


Endure and Survive

by AllysonDark



Category: The Last of Us, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, The Last of Us AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2018-10-19 02:10:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllysonDark/pseuds/AllysonDark
Summary: Rosita is an ex soldier with nothing left to lose, Tara may just be the savior of the world, together they make their way across the country, defying all odds in an attempt to change life as they know it.





	1. Early Spring, 2016

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a long time in the making, I hope you enjoy.

_“We’ll talk about it in the morning,”_ Her mother’s voice sounds, stirring her from a light sleep. Rosita blinks at the bright light from the table lamp, moving to turn it off, wincing when her movements stir the child next to her.

“Rosi, what time is it?” Her brother murmurs, sitting up to rub at his eyes. Rosita smiles softly at the six year old, running a hand through her hair.

“Way past your bedtime, Hector” Rosita replies, reaching across the couch to ruffle his hair. She jumps a bit when he all but bounces off the couch to read the clock on the cable box.

“Good, it’s passed midnight!” He calls, a grin on his face as he disappears down the hall for a moment, returning with a box in his hand. “Happy birthday, Rosi,” he says as he plops next to her once more, handing her the box.

Rosita looks at the small velvet box, turning it over in her hands a few times to build suspense before opening it, a soft smile on her lips as she looks at the necklace, fingers brushing against the silver pocket watch pendant. “How did you get money for this?” She asks, pulling it out of the box, securing the chain around her neck.

“Drugs, I sell hardcore drugs,” He giggles, making Rosita roll her eyes, internally cursing the shows their father allows him to watch during his weekends. “I’m just kidding, mama gave me money and let me pick one out,” Hector says softly, sensing the change in her demeanor.

“I know, I just wish you wouldn’t repeat the things you hear on the TV,” She says firmly before pulling him into a tight hug, kissing the top of his head. She can hear him mumble as he pulls away, a slight pout on his lips.

“So, do you like it?” He asks, gesturing toward the necklace, trying not to look too interested in the answer.

“Hector, I love it, but...I think it’s broken,” She replies, bringing the pendant up to her ear. She can hear the click of the miniature watch, but smirks when her brother all but lunges toward it.

“What, no, no it has to work!” He yells, bringing the watch up to his eyes, watching the second hand move. “Ugh, _idiota!_ ” he huffs, pushing away from her with a scowl.

Rosita giggles at his reaction, glancing at the time before looking back at him. “You can call me whatever you feel like, but it’s time for bed,” She says, standing up from the couch, arms stretching over her head.

Hector mumbles but allows her to lead him to his room, stopping only to say goodnight to their mother. Once he’s tucked into bed, Rosita sits on the edge and smiles at him. “Goodnight, _chiquito_ and thank you again for the present, it’s perfect.” She says softly, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead. “Just like you,” she grins, punctuating each word with a poke to his side.

He giggles softly, squirming a bit before settling down, burying his head in the pillow. “ _Buenas noches, Rosita_ ,” he yawns softly, as she gets up from the bed.

                                 

Rosita is awoken by the sound of the telephone going off, its shrill ring echoing down the hallway. “Ma, get the phone!” She huffs, rolling over to glance at the clock, wincing when she sees the time. “Who the fuck is calling at two in the morning?” She mumbles, pushing herself out of bed.

She stumbles down the hall, squinting at the bright light coming from the living. “Mom? Where are you?” She calls out, running a hand through her hair. The landline silences for a moment, before she hears the familiar tone of her mother’s cell coming from the kitchen.

Rosita moves toward it, eyes narrowing at the contact flashing across the screen. “Hey, Rick,” She answers, looking around the kitchen, trying to figure out why he was calling this late.

“ _Rosita, where’s your mother?”_ He asks and she can hear the familiar rumble of his truck engine in the background. “ _I’ve been trying to get a hold of her for the last hour, I’m heading over.”_

“I-I don’t know, I woke up to the landline ringing and I haven’t seen her yet,” She says as she gravitates toward the sliding door, eyes flickering around the darkened back yard.

 _“Shit, alright, Rosita, I need you to stay away from the windows, keep the doors locked and the lights off,”_ Rick orders and there’s something about her pseudo uncle’s tone that makes her worry. “ _Grab Hector and pack a dufflebag for you both, get a range of clothes, I’m not sure where we’re going from here.”_

“Wait, Rick, what’s going on?” Rosita forces herself to answer as she backs away from the glass door, fear pricking up her spine.

“ _I’ll explain when I get there, just...have your mother call me when you find her, please,”_ He says and then the line goes dead, solidifying the anxiety stirring in her stomach.

She’s about to turn around when the patio light flickers on, signaling some kind of movement outside. “What the..” She murmurs as she walks toward the back door, pressing against the glass to see their neighbor stumbling through the grass, blood dripping from his chest. “Nate?” She calls out as she opens the door, walking out onto the patio. “Jesus, are you okay?”

The only response she gets is a low rasping growl before he starts to charge her. She lets out a squeak of fear as she rushes back toward the door, slamming it shut. Nate slams into the glass with a hard thud, the force shaking the pane. “What the fuck!” She shouts, flinching as he slams into the glass again.

She stumbles back when a crack appears along the door, her eyes going wide as she backs up toward the hall. “Rosita, get away from the glass!” She hears her mother’s voice, the front door slamming shut as the glass shatters to the kitchen tile.

Rosita can’t help the scream that escapes her lips as the thing that used to be her neighbor rushes her once more. A shot rings out and the body drops, leaving her shaking as she takes in the pool of blood spreading across the floor. “Mama...” She whimpers out, fear making her feel more like a child than she had since turning sixteen.

“It’s okay,” Her mother says softly, moving to inspect Rosita for injuries, nodding to herself upon finding none.

“Y-you shot him,” Rosita stammers out, jumping when she hears a door opening, turning to find Hector standing at the end of the hall, asking about the noise. “ _Chiquito,_ go back to your room and start packing some clothes into your biggest backpack, can you do that?” She says, trying to shield her brother from the carnage.

She doesn’t move until he’s down the hall again and out of sight. “Uncle Rick called, he wants you to call him back, been trying to get ahold of you for an hour,” She says, glancing toward the hall, knowing she needs to pack. “Where were you?”

“We’ll talk about it later,” Is the only answer she gets before her mother is grabbing her phone, moving the kitchen table in front of the broken patio door.

Rosita watched her mother for a moment before turning away, trying to wipe the image of her bloody neighbor out of her mind as she heads to her room. She grabs her largest  bag and starts to pack clothes, a few pairs of jeans, some tshirts, long sleeves and her entire underwear drawer before throwing a sweatshirt and her heavy jacket on top, making sure everything is still rolled tightly to maximize space. She grabs a pair of tennis shoes and tosses them in there along with her spare pair pair of boots before stripping out of her pajamas and into something more practical.

“Okay, clothes are packed,” She murmurs as she laces up her shoes, moving to her dresser. She opens the top drawer and scoots some tank tops over to reveal her knife collection, stowing a few of the better ones in her bag, attaching her survival knife to her jeans with deft fingers. If this was going to be a fight, she was going to be ready.

She nods to herself as she pulls her hair back, tucking it under a cap before grabbing her things, heading into Hector’s room. She finds him stuffing things haphazardly into his backpack, making her cringe a little. “Let me help,” She hums, setting her back, quickly rolling some of his clothes, tucking most of them in her bag, making sure he had at least four sets of clothes and an extra pair of shoes in his bag, just in case.

“Now, let’s get you into some real clothes,” Rosita says softly, pulling out a good pair of jeans and a tshirt, helping him change quickly, grabbing his only pair of boots and helping him into them. “Don’t forget your jacket,” she hums, holding it out for him to put his arms into, zipping it up with a smile. “We’re going camping with Uncle Rick, how’s that sound?”

Hector beams at that, throwing his backpack over his shoulders. “Are we really? But why so late?” He asks, his brows furrowing slightly. “Is it so we can get to the camp grounds before anyone else?”

Rosita lets out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding, nodding her head at her brother. “That’s exactly right, now, I know you’re too big for this, but I’m going to pick you up and carry you out to the living room,” She says, holding her arms out for him.

“I need you to keep your eyes closed because there’s something in the kitchen that you can’t see, okay?” She says as she scoops him up into her arms, holding him tightly, doing her best to be strong for him. When he nods, she grabs her bag and heads out of the room, finding their mother pacing the living room.

“Rick will be here in the next five minutes, are you two ready?” She asks, looking between her children, nodding to herself as she takes in their appearances. “Good,”

Rosita sets Hector on the couch, eyes flickering over their mother’s figure, taking in the tense posture of the woman, noticing the bulge at her hip. She makes a mental note of the firearm she knows is there before moving to peek out the windows, her stomach jumping as headlights come closer to the house.

There isn’t much pause between Rick pulling up and them getting shuffled into the car. Rosita makes sure she’s against the door, putting Hector in the center of the backseat, her arm wrapped around him tightly as they fly through the streets.

“Where are Lori and Carl?” Rosita finds herself asking, just to fill the silence that had taken over the cab of the truck.

“Shane took them up state, that’s where we’re headed,” Rick replies, as the truck rattles down the road. “We’ve access to the military base there, it’ll be safe.”

The ride is eerie, barely anyone else in sight as they make their way to the highway. It isn’t until they turn onto the main road that they really run into anyone. There’s a man on the side of the road, yelling for help and even though Rosita wants to speak up, to help the stranger, she stays quiet, allowing Rick to drive by him without a fight.

“Why didn’t we stop?” Hector asks softly as Rosita runs her hand through his hair.

“We just, gotta keep moving, Hector,” Rick replies solemnly, but Rosita can see the way he’s frowning, as if he too wanted to assist the stranger.

They hit nothing but traffic when they get to the highway and end up taking a back road to get to town. They run into a few people who Rosita is sure aren’t people anymore, their bodies thudding off of the diesel truck like flies, each one making Hector flinch.

“It’s okay, bubba,” She hums lowly, hugging him tightly to her side. Shit starts to go south when they make it into town, their truck being blocked in by people, leading Rick to plow through a few of them.

They’re coming toward the intersection when a car comes out of nowhere, slamming into the passenger side hard enough to flip it. Everything feels like it’s on fire, as Rosita comes to, forcing herself to move. She can hear Rick on the other side of her, undoing Hector’s seat belt, pulling him from the truck as she fumbles with her own belt.

After a moment, she manages to free herself, dragging their bags out as she crawls across the shattered glass, ignoring the way it bites into her skin. “Mom...” She says softly as she gets to her feet, swaying a bit as she pulls on her backpack.

“Mom, get up...” She says again, crouching in front of the passenger window, reaching through to shake her mother’s arm. “Come on...” She breathes out, a shaky hand moving to check the woman’s pulse.

Rosita pulls away, stamping the pain down as she stands. “She’s...gone,” She murmurs, turning toward Rick, who is knelt next to a pained looking Hector. “W-what’s wrong, is he okay?” She asks, her heart clenching in her chest. She couldn’t take anymore bad news.

“I think his leg is broken, but he’ll be okay, do you think you can carry him so I can cover us?” Rick asks, looking between the children and the carnage beyond the wrecked vehicle.

She’s nodding faster than she can think, scooping her little brother up as gently as possible, holding him to her chest while Rick takes his bag before they begin to run through the mob of people crowding the city.

It isn’t long before they have to separate, Rick staying behind to give them a chance to run, telling them to head toward the river. “Just keep your eyes closed, _nene,_ ” she says as calmly as possible, running toward their destination.

Her chest burns and her body aches but they’re almost there, they’re almost to safety. She nearly stumbles down the incline, sliding to a stop to scope out some hiding spots. “Stop where you are!” A voice commands, making her freeze, turning toward the sound.

Fear ripples up her spine as she comes face to face with a soldier and his gun. “Please...we’re just trying to get out of the city,” She says softly, flinching when the man brings his hand up, only for him to murmur into his headset.

“My brother, he’s hurt, please...” She begs, but then he’s bringing his gun up and she's acting on instinct. She turns on her heel and tries to run, but there’s a spray of bullets, one catching her in the side, sending her stumbling to the ground. Hector tumbles from her arms, rolling across the dirt a few feet ahead of her.

“Hector!” She yells, only to turn to have the soldier appear in front of her, muzzle pointed at her head. “Please...” she whimpers, eyes wide as she stares up at what she’s sure will be the last person she’ll ever see.

Rosita closes her eyes, preparing for death, but when the gun shot sounds and she’s still breathing, she forces herself to look ahead, finding the soldier dead in front of her. Rick is standing over her, offering her a hand up and she takes it, wincing when the action pulls at her wound. “Shit, Hector,” She hisses, running up to her brother.

He’s whimpering softly when she rolls him over, revealing a blood soaked shirt. “No..no, please...” She sobs, her hands pressing against the wound, flinching as it causes the boy to cry out. “I know, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to try and stop the bleeding,” She says softly.

She only receives quiet whimpers and broken sobs as a reply and her heart starts to clench. “Come on, stay with me, please...you have to stay with me...” she cries, hot tears streaming down her face as she feels her brother start to still.   
  
“Please...please... _please,”_ Her voice cracks as she pulls away from him, her heart breaking in her chest.


	2. Summer, 2026

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten years have passed and the world is surprisingly different.

Rosita wakes with a start, tears cooling against her cheeks as she sits up. “ _Mierda,_ ” She breathes out, rubbing a hand over her face. Light streams in from the window, making her squint as she pushes herself off the bed, her hand automatically moving to touch the necklace that hangs around her neck.

The memory of her brother’s death flashes before her eyes every time she blinks, each moment punctuated by the perpetual silence of her small apartment. “ _Lo siento,_ ” She murmurs to herself as she stands in front of the mirror, eyes flickering across her tear stained cheeks.

She lets out a puff of air before turning the water on, splashing cool water on her face, letting it soothe her back into some sense of normalcy. With slightly shaking hands, she opens the necklace, taking in the time frozen on the watch’s face. _March 23rd, 2016. 4:15 am._

Rostia closes her fist around the small pocket watch, allowing the last ten years of fighting to ground her in the present. With a soothing breath she sets to work getting dressed; pulling on a blue tank top that she knows has seen better days and a faded green cotton shirt over it, tying the ends of it just under her chest, lastly shimming into a pair of worn skinny jeans, one of the last remnants of her former life. One last glance at the mirror reminds her that she looks like shit, before she’s walking toward her living room.

She glances at the watch on her wrist, nodding a bit as she realizes she’ll still be able to catch lunch if she heads out soon. Rosita plops down on her couch to pull her boots on, snatching her old army cap off the end table, tugging her hair back into a ponytail before slapping it on. She’s just about to head out when there’s a knock at her door, making her frown slightly. “Who is it?” She yells as she’s tucking her ration cards away in her pocket.

“The fuckin’ easter bunny,” A familiar voice grumbles through the door. “Ya gonna open the door or let me stand out here like an asshole?”

Rosita chuckles softly as she moves to the door, unlocking it with deft fingers before letting it swing open. “So, now you decide to show up,” She says, brows raised as he walks into the apartment. “Where were you, Abe?”

“The West End District,” He replies, helping himself to her whiskey, taking a shot after she refuses one for herself. “Hey, we had a drop to make.”

“ _We,_ Abe, _we_ had a drop to make,” Rosita stresses,as she walks to the sink to wet a towel, wringing it out as her frustration takes over.

“Yeah. Well, you wanted to be left alone, remember?” He reminds her, taking the offered towel from her, frowning slightly.

“So, I’ll take one guess. The whole deal went south ‘cause you can’t control your mouth and the client made off with our pills. Is that about right?” Rosita snorts, rubbing a hand over her face as Abe chuckles behind her.

“Deal went off without a hitch,” He preens, pulling a small stack of cards out of his pocket. “Enough ration cards to last us a couple of months, easy.” Abe sets them on the table, brows raised at his partner.

“Then you want to explain this?” She asks sarcastically, tapping her cheek. She knows she shouldn’t be as pissed at him as she is, but he’s the only thing she has left in this shit hole of a world and she’ll be damned if she loses him too.

“I was on my way back when I got jumped by these two assholes, alright?” He huffs, pressing the towel to his face again. “Yeah, they got a few good hits in, but look, I managed.”

Rosita softens at that, nodding a bit, she knows he can handle himself, knows she probably wouldn’t have survived this long without his help. “Gimme that,” she says lowly, taking the towel from his hands. “These assholes still with us?” She asks as she dabs gingerly at the gash along his cheek.

“You’re funny,” He grins at her, earning an eye roll and a follow up question for the attackers’ identities. “They were a couple of nobodies, they don’t matter. What matters is that Philip fucking sent them,” he all but growls, pushing her hands away from his face gently.

Rosita’s brows raise at that, a hand reaching up to fidget with her hat. “Our Philip?” She asks, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“He knows we’re after him, figures he’s gonna get us first,” Abe explains, smoothing a hand over his hair. “He’s smart, but not smart enough to fuck us over, so don’t you go worrying your pretty little head,”

Rosita sighs, turning toward the table to pour herself a drink while the man continued. “I know where he’s hiding,” He says even though doubt radiates off of Rosita like heat. “Like hell you do,” She comments before downing her drink.

Abraham smirks at her, stepping around the living room like he had just won the lottery. “Old warehouse in Area 5, but I can’t say for how long though,” There’s mischief in his voice as he turns toward Rosita, that smug look plastering his face.

“Well, I’m ready now,” Rosita replies, the corner of her mouth twitching as Abe agrees, that no good twinkle in his eye telling her that this would be one hell of a show.

They’re on the street before she knows it, ignoring the smell of waste that always seems to linger in the summer. “Check point’s still open for a while and there’s only a few hours until curfew, if we’re gonna do this, we gotta be quick about it,” Rosita points out as they walk, glancing at her watch more out of habit than to actually check the time.

They walk in silence for a moment before Abe is talking again, grumbling about his new work assignment. “Got served the papers before I came over, they want me on outside work duty,” He says lowly, shaking his head a bit.

“Thought that shit was for the soldiers,” Rosita finds herself saying, instantly regretting it as she sees the pain roll across Abe’s face. He had been honorably discharged when he took a near fatal shot to the chest a few years back and though he seems happy enough to do dirty jobs with her, she can tell he misses it.

“I’ll make sure to remind them of that when I’m out there next week,” He replies smoothly, glancing at Rosita with a slight smile. “Besides, not all of us can manage to live off the grid like you, sweetheart.”

She knows he’s teasing, but he’s right, she had the benefits of her own apartment because of her military background, but when she was wounded in combat two years ago, she just seemed to disappear into the woodwork, allowing those around her to forget that she had roots with the soldiers. Abe was the only one left from those times that still trusted her, still wanted anything to do with her.

“Look at that. The ration line hasn’t opened yet, must be getting low again,” Abe says lowly, shaking his head as they come up to the small building. There are people gathered in small groups, all wondering when the line would open.

They pass a few people being taken down by the soldiers, yelling about half rations and how the next base over never had weeks like these. It all makes her feel uneasy, remembering the long days of ration duty, how the military lies to keep everyone in check. If you control the food, you can control the people, just another reason she was happy to be away from the ranks.

“I got us all new papers, they shouldn’t give us any trouble up there, they’re all new blood so they’ve never seen our faces before,” Abe assures her, offering her a smile as they head toward the checkpoint. “Just keep your eyes forward and play it cool.”

Rosita allows him to do the talking, he’s always been good at charming his way through things. “Got the day off, visiting a friend,” He replies when the guard asks what their business in the Area is. They’re cleared and almost through the gate when there’s a deafening explosion, heat rolls over their bodies in a thick wave, the force pushing them back slightly.

The gate closes before Rosita can even try to move forward, the soldiers yelling for them to leave. She’s tempted to argue, but then Abe is grabbing her arm and tugging her along until they’re far enough away from the burning car to speak properly. “Are you okay?” He asks, doing a quick scan of her arms and face before nodding to himself as he pulls out what looks like an old mint container.

“My ears are ringing and I’m pissed but other than that,” She replies, rubbing her hands over her ears for a moment. Her brow furrows as Abe pulls out a bandage from the little metal box and opens it, motioning her to come closer.

She takes a step toward him and he smooths the bandage across her brow. “You have a split brow, I think a rock might have gotten you,” He says, offering her a warm look.

Rosita smiles softly at him, standing on her toes to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “Thanks,” She murmurs, patting his chest before looking around the building he had brought them to. “Fucking Fireflies and their need to start shit,” She growls, realizing the apartment complex was familiar, they’d be taking the long way to Area 5.

“They’ll be closing down all of the checkpoints thanks to those bastards, so we’ll have to go around outside,” Abe says, echoing her thoughts as they walk down the hallway.

“Hey Abe, did you see that shit?” A man asks and it takes a minute for Rosita to realize she knows him.

“Yeah, Glenn, I was there,” Abe replies, shrugging his shoulders a bit. “How’s the east tunnel looking?”

“It’s clear, Maggie and I just used it. No patrols,” He says, following them down the hallway, glancing at Rosita for a moment before shaking his head. “Where are you headed?” He asks with a tilt of his head.

“To pay Philip a visit,” Abe preens, as if paying a visit to the self titled Governor was something to  be proud of. “Who else is looking for him?” He asks when Glenn points out that they are not the only people after the bastard.

“Uh, Carol. She’s been asking around, trying to find him.” Glenn replies, running a hand through his hair.

Rosita’s brow furrows as she allows the name to roll around in her mind for a moment, realizing why the name was familiar. “Carol? What do the Fireflies want with Philip Blake?” She ask, looking over at Glenn.

“You think she’d tell me?” He replies, shaking his head as they reach the entrance to the tunnel. “I didn’t tell her shit, I don’t know where the slimy bastard is hiding,” He says, as though he knew Rosita would ask if he had said anything to the older woman.

“Good man. Hey, you stay out of trouble, alright?” Rosita smiles slightly, nudging his shoulder. “The military is going to be out in force soon,” She informs him, leaning against the door frame. She had met Glenn through his wife Maggie a year or so ago during a job, they were all too young to be doing this sort of thing, but who else would get shit in and out of the Areas.

“Yeah, thanks, I’ll tell Maggie that I saw you, she’ll be pretty excited,” Glenn grins, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “She’s been wanting to have you over before we head west.”

“West?” She repeats, head tilting to the side. ‘Why are you heading west?”

“Her father has a farm in California that’s on private land, the military can’t touch it and it’s pretty damn secure since it’s in the middle of nowhere, most of her family is up there now,” He explains, shrugging his shoulders a bit. “And since she’s been wanting to start a family, security is something we need, gotta get away from the jugheads and those fucking Fireflies.”

Rosita frowns at the term jughead, but doesn’t say anything, just nods a bit. “Well, I’ll see what I can do after we’re finished here, okay?”

The smile on his face is enough to tell her she’s said the right thing, but the hug he envelopes her in, takes her by surprise. “Thanks, she’ll be so happy,” He mumbles into her shoulder and it takes all she has not to shove him away, opting to pat him on the back instead.

“Yeah, of course,” Rostia replies awkwardly before nodding toward the entrance. “Catch you later, Glenn,”

Rosita waits until he’s walked away to brush at her arms, turning toward an amused looking Abe. “Shut the fuck up,” She huffs, shoving him gently before climbing down into the tunnel. Her boots hit the floor with a soft thud, echoing off the subterranean walls as she feels around for the light switch.

She flicks on the lights, the familiar hum of the generator making her feel a little more comfortable. “Let there be light,” She murmurs, leaning against the wall. “Why does it always smell like garbage down here?”

“Have you seen the shit they throw down here? I’m surprised the whole building doesn’t stink,” Abe chuckles, nodding toward the tunnel. “Ladies first.”

She rolls her eyes at the man but heads forward anyway, eyes flickering around the walls. Just because the tunnel was clear in the morning, didn’t mean they should drop their guard. “Carole looking for Blake, what do you make of that?”

“I don’t like it. We better find him before the Fireflies do,” Abe replies, shaking his head as they walk. “Let’s grab our gear,” He says as they come upon a small room. Backpacks line the walls, all holding various weapons, strapped to the sides.

Rosita walks up to an olive bag, smiling at the familiarity of the worn fabric. She turns it over, fingers tracing along the patch there. Hector is written in the wobbly handwriting of the six year old, he had demanded to be allowed to write his own name on his backpack with fabric markers as soon as he got it home. She had sewn the patch onto her ROTC bag the first night at the fort and had carried the weight of it with her always. 

She takes her favorite Glock from the front pocket and slips it into her belt. Clearing her throat when she realizes Abe was staring at her, Rosita pulls the bag on and nods toward the platform down the tunnel. “Let’s go, big guy.”

Abe chuckles softly but follows her, looking up at the platform. He kneels down and cups his hands in front of him. “After you, princess.”

Rosita narrows her eyes at him, shaking her head as she takes a few steps back. She scans the boxes in front of the platform before taking a running start, using a box as leverage, she leaps up to the platform, grabbing the edge to pull herself up. “You coming, _princess_?” She mocks as she walks toward the latch in the ceiling.

She pushes the door up and climbs into the dilapidated bar above, chuckling as she hears a thud down by the platform. “You okay down there?” She snorts, arms crossing over her chest as she waits.

She hears another thud and the sound of boots scraping against wood, along with a grunt from the man before his head is popping up from the hatch. “You’re an asshole,” He huffs, pulling himself up into the room, eyes narrowing at the woman.

“Yeah, well you keep me around, so it’s your own fault,” Rosita smirks, heading toward the exit once the hatch was secure. The light breeze makes her smile, as they step outside. “Be careful.”

“When am I not?” Abe asks, slinging an arm around her shoulders for a moment. “I forgot how nice it is on the outside.”

“Yeah, it’s almost like we’re on a date,” Rosita chuckles softly, pulling away to continue on. “I mean, you know I _am_ the romantic type.”

She can hear Abe’s laugh rumbling behind her as she looks for the ladder, pulling it out of the weeds once she locates it. ‘Well, if that’s the case, Espinosa, we’ll have to seal the deal when we’re finished, don’t you think?”

“We’re headed to kill a guy and all you can think about is sex,” Rosita rolls her eyes, hiding her smile as she climbs up to the apartment above. “ _Juro, hombres y sus penes._ ”

“What did you say?” Abe grumbles behind her, the annoyance in his voice only making her grin. “It’s not fair that you say shit that I can’t understand,” He all but pouts at her.

“Sucks to be you,  _guero_ ,” She chuckles, heading through the hole in the wall and toward the stairs. She knew she was being a bit of an asshole, but it made life a little more entertaining.

She flicks on the flashlight on the strap of her bag as they get further into the house, eyes squinting into the dimly lit area. “Do you think Blake still has our guns?” She finds herself asking, just to fill the silence.

“For his sake, he better,” Abe replies with a snort. “Speaking of merchandise, when’s the next shipment due?’ He asks, knowing Rosita took care of the details.

Rosita opens her mouth to reply before stopping, seeing small white specks floating in the next room. “Hold up, we’ve got spores,” She says, pulling her bag around to grab the gas-mask she had packed. Once they’ve got their masks on, they continue forward. “Where the hell are these coming from? This was clear last time.”

“They’re coming out of something, stay alert,” Abe murmurs as they walk through the hole in the wall. Rosita pulls her gun out from her belt, gripping it tightly as she scans the hallway, her shoulders tense. “There’s the culprit,” Abe announces as they come upon a corpse with fungus growing out of it.

“The body’s not that old. Better keep your eyes and ears open,” Rosita says with a shake of her head. She continues down the hall, finding the way into the next part of the building blocked off by some boards. She pulls them down, flinching away from the debris that fall from the ceiling. “The fucking ceiling is falling down, be careful,”

She pushes herself between the wall and two filing cabinets, nearly jumping out of her skin when she sees a hand moving under a pile of debris. “Help me...my mask broke,” The man wheezes, reaching his hand toward her. “Do-don’t leave me to turn into one of them...please.”

Rosita curses under her breath as she puts her gun away, pulling a knife from her boot. She kneels next to the man’s head and places one hand on his cheek, the other holding the weapon over his temple. “ _Dios sea contigo,"_ She croons as the blade disappears into his skull.

She sucks in a breath as she removes the knife, wiping the blood on his shirt before standing up straight. “Poor bastard,” she sighs, nodding toward the rest of the passageway. “Let’s go,”

They continue on in silence for a few rooms before there’s a sound other than their footsteps. Something tips over in the next room and they freeze, Abe hissing a soft warning to stay quiet as they crouch behind a wall. Rosita takes a moment, just listening to the pattern of the corpses move before determining that they’re fairly new; still moving quickly, still insanely strong.

Rosita closes her eyes for a moment, focusing on the number of footsteps. She’s about to announce that there are four zombies, when there’s a scream from the other room, confirming that at least one of the bodies in there was still human. She doesn’t waste time letting Abe know what the plan was, using hand signals to direct him before they’re moving. She takes the doorway directly into the room while Abe uses the hallway to go around, their goal is to eliminate the dead as quietly as possible.

She comes up behind one of them, looping her arm around it’s neck before driving her blade into it's skull, letting it drop with a soft thud. She can hear Abe nearing the next room and she moves on, somehow managing to sync up with him, both of them doing away with their targets at the same time. They look down at the mangled corpse of the woman who had become a meal and it takes all Rosita has not to flinch when Abe stomps it's head in.

The area seems clear now, so they take a moment to scavenge, managing to find half a first aid kit, a few extra rounds of ammo and Rosita proudly holds up two granola bars. “I’m surprised they don’t check this place out more, clean it out,” She says as they continue upstairs.

Once they’ve reached the outside, they can safely remove their masks, taking a moment to just soak up the fresh air. They drop down from the hole in the wall, hitting the ground with dull thuds. “Time to head back into the city, damn shame, this air is just too good,” Abe chuckles as they continue forward.

The rest of the trek into the city goes by fairly uneventful, leaving Rosita feeling confident about what would happen once they found Philip. They continue into the slums after Abraham pays the boy at the door to make sure everything is clear, the people here know Abe a lot better than Rosita, so she allows him to do the talking, doing her best to not be bothered by it.

She ends up wandering off ahead of Abe, taking in the sights, eyes flickering around the multitude of shops. The path takes her through an open bus, and just as she reaches the front, she’s shoved back by a man, demanding to know where she’s going.

“Merle, sit your ass back down,” Abe commands from behind her and the man almost flinches at the sound of his voice.

“Abe, sorry, didn’t realize you two were together, go on ahead,” He says, sitting back down. Rosita shoots him a look as they pass, ignoring the annoyance that radiates through her at the thought of Abe having to come to her rescue.

“Who was that?” She finds herself asking as they walk down the narrow street, brows raising as she turns to look at the man.

“Just an old headache, he’s not important,” Abe replies, nodding toward a turn up ahead. The walk seems longer than it should and she’s unsure if it’s because they’ve been moving for about an hour now or if it’s just the smell of the place making her want to finish sooner.

When they come to a gate, Abe ambles up to the man there, pulling out a stack of ration cards. “We’re looking for the Governor, he come through here?” He asks, holding the cards out to the man.

The guy looks between them and the cards, before nodding. “He came through about a half hour ago, he went to the wharf and that’s where he’s been since.” He confirms, taking the payment from Abe before allowing them through.

They make it a few yards down the street before they’re confronted by a few of Philip’s men. “You need to turn back now if you know what’s good for you,” One of them says, gesturing toward his men.

“Our beef isn’t with you, it’s with Blake, now let us through,” Rosita growls, her hand hovering over her gun, eyes narrowing at the men, ready to take them out. “We’re not going anywhere without Blake.”

“Bitch, I will bash your head in if you don’t turn the fuck around and get out of my sight,” The man says through gritted teeth, his hands clenching at his sides.

Rosita smirks slightly as she pulls her firearm out, “Fuck this,” She snorts before shooting the leader in the head, watching his body drop before she’s ducking for cover. It doesn’t take long to dispose of the other two men, leaving Rosita the wonderful job of searching their bodies, coming up with a pistol, a new hunting knife and a few rounds of ammo.

“How’d he get all these men?” She asks as they continue on their way, nose crinkling as they come to a locked gate. This time she takes the offer for a boost, doing her best to miss the barbed wire as she drops over to the other side.

“If there’s one thing Blake is good at, it’s writing blank checks,” Abe replies, shrugging his shoulders as Rosita sets to work picking the padlock on the gate. “Let’s put a stop to that, shall we?” He chuckles, nodding when the lock pops open on the first try.

“I used to be that kid that would steal rations from the instructors,” Rosita grins, opening the gate for her companion. “You would have hated me if you had met me in the academy.”

“Nah, I like a little spitfire,” Abe teases as they jog down the alleyway and for the first time since beginning this journey, she feels good.

“Yeah, until I kick your ass,” Rosita quips, earning herself a soft nudge to the shoulder. “That’s what I thought.”

They reach the only building between them and the wharf when they pause, seeing a few men positioned just inside the door and hide behind an old car to listen in on their conversation. “How do you know they’re coming?” One of them asks, as another one snorts.

“Two of our men died trying to take Abe out, I can guarantee that he and Rosita are on their way here, right now, to get the Governor,” A second one says, making Abe smirk. Were they getting predictable?

“Jesus, we shouldn’t have taken this job, they’re gonna fucking murder us,” The first one says, only serving to make Rosita grin at her partner.

“It’s not our call, let’s spread out and make sure no one is creeping around,” The second man says before Rosita and Abe are all action once more. They move like they’ve been working together for far longer than they had, each one taking their target down quickly and quietly.

She nods to Abe, signaling that she’ll take the far side while he took the door. She waits a beat, listening to the men inside move, trying to pick up a pattern before she jumps through the old window, landing as quietly as possible. Rosita stills for a moment, listening for the thud of the man closest to the door before she’s moving again.

She stands up straight, shooting one man in the head, ducking behind the desk as the other one takes a shot at her, only to be mowed down by Abe and his blade. “All clear,” He grins, brows wiggling at her.

Rosita rolls her eyes at the ginger, nodding back toward the road. “Come on, Rambo,” She teases, heading out the way she came. They meet a few more obstacles on the way, but dispatch the men with ease, making good time despite the inconveniences.

Once they reach the docks, Rosita has a moment of doubt, wondering if they should have brought more people. “They would have just gotten in the way,” Abe says, as though reading her mind. She nods a bit as they duck behind a piece of crumbling wall, investigating the scene.

Blake stands in the middle of the docks, surrounded by at least fifteen men, all of whom, seem to be getting orders. They watch for a moment, seeing Blake give a final set of orders before disappearing into the main building.

Rosita and Abe exchange glances before going into action. Everything seems like a blur from the moment Rosita strangles the first guard to chase to having the Governor kneeling at their feet. “Rosita, Abe, we can talk about this,” He says, his one good eye flickering between the two of them.

“Oh yeah, that’s why we came here,” Rosita smirks, leaning down to pick up a piece of piping that was laying on the ground. She knocks his knees out from under him when he tries to run, chuckling at the whimper he makes. “Ah, not so fast, we still need to talk, asshole.”

“Look, whatever it is that you’ve heard, it aint true,” Philip pants, clutching at his knee. “I just wanna say-”

“The guns, Blake, where the fuck are they?” She interrupts, placing a well aimed kick to his side. “And I better like the answer.”

“Alright, alright, but it’s complicated,” Blake wheezes, holding up a hand in surrender. “Look, just hear me out on this, I got a-” He starts, only to be cut off by Abe’s boot slamming into his face. There’s a deafening crunch, blood spewing across the pavement before the ginger is kneeling over him; a knee in the small of Philip’s back as Abe straightens out the smaller man’s arm, keeping his other knee at the elbow, effectively pinning him.

“I told you that I wanted to like the answer, Philip, why is that so hard to understand?” Rosita asks sarcastically, nodding toward Abe. “Show him what happens when he lies to us?”

The ex soldier nods, his hands moving to Blake’s forefinger and with a hollow crunch, he dislocates it. “Now, you gonna tell us where our shit is, or am I going to have to fuck you up some more?” Abe inquires as Blake tries to muffle his sobs against the pavement.

“I sold them,” He admits finally, making their brows raise. “I didn’t have much of a choice, I owed someone, “ He argues, eye squeezing shut.

“You owed us and I’d say you bet on the wrong horse,” Rosita sneers, looking to Abe who nods, dislocating another finger.

“I just need more time,” Blake pants, teeth gritting against the pain that radiates through his body. “Just give me a week...”

“You know, I might’ve done that if you hadn’t tried to fucking kill my partner,” Rosita spits, eyes narrowing at the pathetic man. “Tell us who has our shit.”

“I-I can’t” He breathes out, shaking his head. Abe lets out a snort and in one smooth movement he snaps the Governor’s arm, the crack echoing off the walls.

“Wrong answer, asshole,” Abe growls, shoving away from the quivering man. “Who has our guns?”

Philip takes a moment to breathe, eye squeezing shut as tears roll down his cheeks. “The Fireflies...I owed the Fireflies,” He admits quietly, shaking his head a bit. “But look, they’re basically all dead, we can go in there and finish them off. Get the guns, whaddya say?”

Abe and Rosita share a glance as they stand up straight, Rosita pulling her gun from her belt. “That is a stupid idea,” She hums before placing two bullets into Blake’s skull. “Well, now what?” She finds herself asking, holstering her weapon.

“We go get our merchandise back,” Abe responds, shaking his head a bit. “How?” Rosita interjects, brows raised at him. “I dunno, go and explain it to them, never hurts to ask I suppose,” He replies, shrugging a bit.

“Let’s go find a fucking Firefly,” Rosita chimes in, sighing softly as she looks between Abe the corpse between them.

“You won’t have to look very far,” A voice sounds behind them, making Rosita whip around, gun pointed at the shadowed figure. They’re all still for a moment before the woman emerges, an arm wrapped around her abdomen, gun held loosely in the other hand.

“There you go, Queen Firefly,” Abe mumbles, moving to stand next to his partner. “You don’t look so hot,” He adds, as Rosita thinks the same thing.

“Where’s Philip?” Carol asks, ignoring their comments on her health as they move out of the way, presenting the body to her with arms crossed over their chests. “I needed him alive,” The older woman sighs, shaking her head.

“The guns he gave you, they weren’t his to sell,” Rostia informs her, looking between the Firefly and the corpse. “I want them back,”

“It doesn’t work like that, Rosita,” Carol says, continuing even when she’s interrupted. “I paid for those guns, if you want them back, you’re going to have to earn them and I’m not talking about ration cards,” She finishes, noting the shared look between the two ex-soldiers.

“Then what do you want?” Abe asks, getting frustrated with the whole situation. Rosita puts up a hand to calm him down, before looking at the older woman.

“I need something smuggled out of the city,” Carol says, holstering her gun. “You do that and you get your guns and then some.”

“How do we know you’ve got them?” Rosita inquires, relaxing her arms at her sides, still clutching her gun. “I hear the military has been wiping you guys out.”

“You’re right about that,” Carol admits with a nod of her head. “I’ll show you the weapons” She says, freezing when the sound of radio static pierces the air. “I gotta move. What’s it gonna be?”

Abe and Rosita exchange looks before the man is shaking his head. “I wanna see those guns.”


	3. Just Cargo

_ Attention. Curfew is now in full effect. Anyone caught outside without proper authorization will be arrested and prosecuted.  _ The warning sounds as they enter the building, following closely behind Carol. “Shit, we need to hurry,” Rosita murmurs, glancing around the room. 

“What are we smuggling anyway?” Abe asks, brows raised at the older woman. Carol only replies with a nod of her head up the stairs before she starts climbing. 

Rosita shares a glance with her partner for a moment before following after the injured woman. “You’ll see soon enough, we’re almost there,” Carol says as Rosita comes up the landing, nodding a bit. 

Carol struggles with a large metal door for a moment, before it swings open, causing the woman to stumble and hit the ground. “Woah, woah, easy now,” Abe murmurs, moving forward to help Carol off the floor. 

“Hey, get the fuck off her!” A voice sounds, a woman no older than Rosita comes forward, brandishing a knife at the man. Rosita acts instinctively, grabbing the girl’s wrist, pushing her back with ease. 

She only lets go when Carol asks her to, shoving the brunette’s’ wrist away from her. ‘Recruiting kind of young, aren’t you?” Rosita quips, eyes narrowing at the young woman. 

“She’s not one of mine,” Carol replies, wincing as she makes her way to the chair in the middle of the room. The younger woman moves to kneel next to her, frowning a bit at the wound. 

“Shit, what happened?” She murmurs, looking up at the older woman with wide eyes. Carol just offers her a small smile, patting the top of her head much like a mother would. 

“Don’t worry, it’s fixable,” Carol says softly before nodding toward the pair. “I got us help, but I can’t go with you.” 

The girl turns around to look at the duo, brows furrowing slightly. “Then I’m staying,” She says stubbornly, shaking her head as she turns to look back at Carol. “I’m not leaving you.” 

“Tara, we won’t get another shot as this,” The older woman says, looking between her charge and the confused looking team watching them. 

“Wait, we’re smuggling her?” Rosita asks, taking a step toward the pair. “You want us to smuggle a grown ass adult out of here?” 

“There’s a crew of Fireflies that will meet you at the capitol building, they’ll take her from there,” Carol answers with a little shake of her head. “That’s not exactly close,” Abe interjects, arms crossing over his chest. 

“You’re more than capable,” Carol snaps, eyes narrowing at the man. “You go, hand her off, come back and the guns are yours. Double what Blake sold me.” 

“Speaking of which - where are they?” Abe asks, staring down the older woman. “We’re not smuggling shit until I see them.” 

"You’ll follow me. You can verify the weapons, I can get patched up,” Carol says, pushing away from the chair slowly. “But she’s not crossing into that part of town, I want Rosita to watch over her.”

“Woah, woah, I don’t think that’s such a-” “Bull shit I’m not staying with her!” The two younger women yell over each other, both trying to get their feelings on the situation heard, only stopping when Carol shouts at Tara. 

“How do you know them?” Tara asks, brows furrowed at her partner. 

“I was friends with her uncle, Rick, said if I was eve in a jam, I could rely on him.” Carol answers, resting a hand on Tara’s shoulder. “Was that before or after he left your little militia group?” Rosita interrupts, brows furrowed. 

“He left you too,” The older woman replies coldly. “He was a good man,” She finishes, shaking her head a bit. 

“Look, just take her to the north tunnel and wait for me there,” Abe says softly as he moves to stand next to his partner. “She’s just cargo, Rosita.” 

Carol spends a few moments encouraging Tara to go with Rosita, making both of the young women frown slightly. Rosita glances between the girl and Abe before nodding a bit. “Fine, but don’t take long. And you, stay close.” She directs at each of them respectively before heading out the door. 

The walk back to the tunnel is frustrating with the never ending stream of questions coming from Tara’s mouth. Rosita does her best not to let it get to her, but she’s never been good with people, let alone chatty ones. 

“So you use this tunnel to smuggle things? Like illegal things?” Tara asks as they reach the building where the tunnel is housed, making Rosita roll her eyes as she answers with an affirmative. “You ever smuggle a person before?” 

“Nope, this is a first,” Rosita responds almost robotically as they walk down the hall. “What’s the deal with you and Carol anyway?” She finds herself asking, if only to keep the brunette from spouting off another asinine question. 

“She’s my friend, I guess,” Tara replies with a shrug, looking over at her companion with her brows raised. 

“You’re friends with the leader of the Fireflies?” Rosita snorts, shaking her head a bit. “What are you, nineteen?” 

“She knew my mom, she’s been looking after me. And I’m twenty two, not that it has anything to do with anything,” Tara huffs, trying to ignore the snicker that comes from the other woman. “What? You don’t look any older than I am.” 

“I’m twenty six, but thank’s for the compliment,” Rosita replies in kind, shrugging her shoulders a bit as they start to climb the stairs. “Where’s your family?” She asks, part of her already knowing the answer. 

“Where is anyone’s family these days,” Tara replies harshly, arms crossing over her chest as they continue on. 

“So, you decided to drop out of the military education program to run off with the Fireflies?” She asks sarcastically, trying to ignore the pout coming from her new companion. 

“I’m not supposed to tell you why you’re smuggling me if that’s what you’re getting at,” The brunette responds as they come down another long hallway. 

“Best part about this job, I don’t have to know why. To be honest with you, I couldn’t give two shits about what you’re up to.” Rosita snaps, pulling out a set of keys from her pocket, ignoring the look she gets from the brunette. 

Rosita unlocks the door with deft movements, pocketing the keys as she walks in. “This is it,’ She murmurs, tossing her bag on one end of the couch, before flopping down on it, her body aching with exhaustion. 

“What are you doing?” Tara asks, arms crossing over her chest as she watches Rosita get comfortable. 

“Killing time,” Rosita responds, tilting her hat down to cover her closed eyes, relaxing against the cushions. She can hear the younger girl pacing for a moment before plopping into the chair across the room, letting out a little huff. Rosita smirks slightly before she starts to nod off, feeling safe for the first time that day. 

By the time Rosita awakes with a start, the room is dark and a spike of panic runs through her when she realizes that Abe still hasn’t returned. “You mumble in your sleep,” Tara murmurs, making Rosita sit up slowly. “I hate bad dreams.” 

“Yeah, me too,” Rosita replies softly, looking over to find that Tara had dragged the recliner over to the window to watch the rain. She gets up slowly, ignoring the ache in her leg as she moves toward the girl, taking a moment to watch as well. 

“You know, I’ve never been this close,” Tara says suddenly, turning to look at Rosita, a light twinkling in her eye. “To the outside, look how dark it is,” She continues even after Rosita has moved to light the lamp on the table. “Can’t be any worse out there, can it?” 

The innocence in the younger girl’s voice tugs on Rosita’s heart strings, but she stamps the feelings out as she sighs, turning to look at the girl. “What on earth do the Fireflies want with you?” She asks, jumping when the door clicks open. 

“Sorry it took so long, soldiers are fuckin’ everywhere,” Abe murmurs, looking between the women. He makes sure the door is locked behind him before moving toward them, nodding at the when she asks about Carol. “She’ll live,” 

“I saw the merchandise. It’s a lot,” Abe grins, clapping a hand over Rosita’s shoulder. “You wanna do this?” 

Rosita can feel the excitement rolling off of the man and it dampens her uneasiness. “Yeah...” She replies before moving to grab her bag, slinging it over her shoulders with ease. “Let’s go,” She murmurs, glancing at Tara who looks away, as though she had been staring. 

They head into the next room, taking a moment to watch the soldiers moving along the wall. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd that they’re having us do their smuggling?” She asks her partner quietly, eyes flickering to the man. 

“Carol wanted to do it herself. We weren’t their first choice, or their second for that matter,” Abe replies, shrugging her shoulders a bit. “She’s lost a lot of men, beggars can’t be choosers.” 

Rosita sighs softly, nodding her head a bit. “Let’s just hope there’s someone alive to pay us,” She murmurs before turning away from the window and to the bookcase. She grabs one of the sides and pushes until the hole in the wall is revealed. “Come on,” She murmurs before slipping through. 

The generator in the room is small, but powerful enough to power the lift they need to use. She gets it running with ease, nodding toward the platform for the other two to get on before joining them. “Who’s meeting us?” She asks as she presses the button to lower the platform. 

“She said that there’s some Fireflies that have traveled from another city,” Abe replies, raising his voice over the sound of the machinery. “Girl must be important.” 

Rosita lets the information roll around in her head before she speaks, looking at Tara with raised brows. “What’s the deal with you anyway? You some big wig’s daughter or something?” She asks, despite Tara having said her family was dead earlier in the day. 

“Something like that,” Tara replies, eyes narrowing at the other woman. “How long is this going to take anyway?”

“If everything goes according to plan, we’ll have you to them in a couple of hours,” Rosita replies before ducking down into the tunnel. “Once we get out there, I need you to follow our lead and stay close,” She says over her shoulder, wondering just how hard this was going to be.

“Yeah, of course,” Tara responds, sticking as close to Rosita as the space would allow comfortably. 

Rosita motions for them to stay at the foot of the ladder before she climbs up, moving the board overhead away to look around. “Hold up, there’s a patrol up ahead,” She calls down to them as quietly as possible, eyes staying glued on the soldiers until they go back the way they came. “Alright, we’re good, come on up.” 

She climbs out with relative ease, despite the rain making her old gunshot wound ache. Once her two companions are out as well, she covers the hole back up, wincing slightly at the sound. She takes a look around the area once more before nodding toward the path. “Be careful,” She murmurs, drawing her gun just in case. 

“This rain isn’t going to do us any favors, watch your step and try not to splash too much,” Abe advises them as they move forward, ducking under some fallen timber. 

“Holy shit...I’m actually outside!” The exclamation comes softly from Tara and innocence of the statement has Rosita smiling just for a moment. She schools her features as they come to the only semi that lays in the path.

“The floor will be slick, tread carefully,” She murmurs to the younger girl before taking the lead, doing her best to focus. Rosita continues out the other side, a soft gasp escaping her lips as the soldier appears to her left, slamming the but of their gun against her head before she can react. 

She hits the ground with a dull thud, pain throbbing across the back of her skull. “Don’t try anything stupid,” The soldier commands, gun aimed at her companions. “Scan ‘em and I’ll call it in,” They say as Abe and Tara hop down, followed by another soldier. 

Before Rosita can think about moving,she’s being grabbed and forced into a kneeling position next to the other two. They’re ordered to put their hands on their head and Rosita looks up at the soldier, her face not showing an ounce of the anxiety that coursed through her. “Look the other way. I can make it worth your while.”

“Shut up,” The man grunts, smacking her across the face before moving behind them. Rosita’s teeth grind as she fights the instinct to turn around and make the man hurt worse than she does. “Getting tired of this shit,” The man grumbles as he presses the scanner to her neck before moving on to Abe. 

The two soldiers continue talking amongst themselves as the man presses the scanner to Tara’s neck, making the younger girl jolt into action. The brunette pulls a knife out of her boot, whipping around to drive the blade into the soldier’s calf, murmur a soft apology as she pulls it out. Rosita is already moving by the time the soldier’s gun smacks into Tara’s face, tackling the man before his gun goes off. 

She feels stinging heat along her side as she wrestles with the man, not even flinching when she hears the familiar shot of Abe’s pistol behind her. She manages to aim the soldier’s gun at his head, making him squeeze the trigger, ending his own pathetic life. “What the fuck was that!” She yells as she shoves away from the corpse. 

Tara flinches a little, eyes widening at the red blooming across the side of Rosita’s shirt. ‘Oh fuck, you’re bleeding,” She says, panic making her voice crack. 

“Yeah, no shit, why did you do that?” Rosita asks, ignoring the pain that throbs across her ribs and the back of her skull. Before Tara can open her mouth, Abe is pressing the scanner into Rosita’s hands, tapping the screen. “What the fuck, you’re infected?” 

“Why the fuck is Carol having us smuggle an infected girl out of the city?” Abe growls and for a moment Rosita isn’t sure if he wants the answer or not, but then Tara is speaking and Rosita can only focus on the younger woman. 

“I’m not infected, I swear, I can explain” Tara defends as she shoves her sleeve up, holding it out to them. “This is three weeks old,” She insists, eyes wide. 

“Bullshit, everyone turns after two days,” Abe spits, turning away from the girl, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. 

“It’s three weeks old, I swear. Why would she set you up?” Tara asks them, brows raised at the pair as she pulls her sleeve down. 

“I ain’t buying it,” The man huffs as he looks over the rest of the pass, shoulders tensing. “Fuck, Rosita, run!”

Rosita recognizes the panic in his voice and she’s all action, moving forward to grab Tara’s arm, pulling her along. “Come on, move!” She yells, dragging her along with her toward the drop off. “Brace yourself!” She shouts as they jump down, hitting the water hard. 

It’s not deep, but it’s enough to slow them down as they run, ducking behind remnants of whatever construction project the path had been before shit went to hell. Rosita drops Tara’s arm once they’re hidden, listening to the military truck go by. “Stay close,” She reminds the younger girl before they’re moving again. 

Rosita’s heart is hammering in her chest by the time they reach the factory that marks the halfway point. They climb through the tunnel and come into the basement, taking a moment to breathe. “Well, at least we’re out of the rain,” She murmurs, taking the moment of peace to check her gunshot wound. 

She lifts her tank top, wincing as the movement pulls at the spot. “It just grazed me,” She says lowly, pulling her bag around to pull out a bandage and one of her spare tshirts. She dries the area before placing the bandage over the spot, sucking in a breath as she presses against the tender spot. 

“You okay?” Abe asks softly, brows furrowed in concern as his eyes flicker over her body as though he could detect her level of comfort by sight. 

“I’ll live,” Rosita replies as she readjusts her backpack. “Let’s see if there’s anything in here that we can use,” She says before going to search through the many storage lockers that line the walls of the basement. 

They come up with a few odds and ends, but the real winner was Tara who somehow manages to find an unopened bottle of vodka. “How the fuck?” Rosita murmurs, tucking the bottle into her bag. She wouldn’t be drinking it anytime soon, she actually planned to use it to clean her wound once they were safe. “Let’s keep going,” She says after a moment, hoping they had all caught their breath. 

They make their way through the hole in the wall and through a broken pipe that she’s sure was part of the sewer system at one point. She flinches at the sound of a military truck rumbling by overhead, signalling her companions to stop, waiting for the sound to fade away completely before nodding forward. 

She knows she shouldn’t be wading through the waist high water while she was wounded, but found she had no other choice but to slosh her way toward the other end of the tunnel. She pauses in front of the grate that’s at the end of the pipe, listening to the men above shout their orders to return to the wall. 

“Thank fuck,” She murmurs, glancing at Abe who offers her a slight smile. They wait until there’s nothing but silence among the rain before Abe is shoving the grate open, giving them access to the outside. 

Rosita draws her gun as she steps out, turning to face the road above, weapon aimed and ready for a soldier to show themselves, but nothing happens and she motions for them to come out from under the overhang. 

Tara sits down on an abandoned tire, resting her head in her hands. “What was the plan?” Rosita asks as she moves to kneel in front of the girl, ignoring the painful protest from her side. “Say we deliver you to the Fireflies, what happens then?”

“Carol said that they had their own little quarantine zone with doctors still trying to find a cure,” Tara says, lifting her head up to look at the ex-soldier. “And that whatever happened to me...it’s the key to finding it.” 

“Oh Jesus,” Abe snorts, shaking his head as he looks up at the sky. “Filling your head with bullshit,” 

“Hey, fuck you man!” Tara shouts, shoving up from her seat, shoulders back as she glares at the man. “I didn’t fucking ask for this!” 

“Me neither, kid,” Abe spits, brushing past her to stand in front of Rosita. “What the hell are we doing here?” He asks, mouth set in a thin line. 

“What if it’s true?” She asks, hope blooming inside her chest for the first time in years. “I mean, we’ve come this far, let’s just finish it.” She sighs, just wanting to be back in her bed, wanting this shit to be over. 

“Do I need to remind you of what’s out there?” He asks, grabbing her bicep to pull her closer, tapping a finger to the locket around her neck.  

Rosita narrows her eyes at her partner, pulling away from him, anger flooding her veins. “I get it,” She says shortly, before turning away from him, heading toward the path. 

She hated herself for being so vulnerable, for allowing the man to know that he had gotten to her. “Come on, if we cut through downtown we can reach the capitol building before sunrise,” She calls over her shoulder. 

“Holy shit, so this is what these building look like up close,” Tara says, wonder radiating through her words. “They’re so damn tall...” She trails off and Rosita glances to the side just in time to catch Tara staring up at the remnants of what used to be a skyscraper. 

The woman smiles slightly, wondering just where her own sense of wonder had gone, but then there’s a crack of thunder and a familiar shriek sounds through the air and she’s all tensed up again. “What the hell was that?” Tara asks as Rosita draws her gun. 

“Abe you hear that?” Rosita calls over the rain as they move forward. It had sounded like an echo but she could never really tell in the city, everything was so open. 

“Yeah, but it sounded pretty far away,” Abe replies, though his own gun is drawn as well. “We’re safe, for now, come on,” The man says, though it does nothing to soothe Rosita’s nerves. 

They keep forward a few more feet before coming to edge of the broken highway, the distance to the bottom making Rosita frown. “That’s quite a drop...” Tara murmurs, taking a step away from the edge as Abe and Rosita look for a way around the mess. 

“There’s the capitol building,” Rosita points out for Tara before nodding toward the tallest standing building in the city. “This used to be downtown and now it’s just a wasteland,” She murmurs, head tilting toward the fallen building next to them. 

“You thinkin’ what I am?” Abe asks, nodding toward where the rubble meets the building next to them. “We can use that as a bridge and go through that office building.” He says, heading toward the pile of debris. 

Rosita pushes Tara ahead of her, determined to keep the girl safe. “Just be careful, I’m not carrying you if you slip and break your ankle,” She grumbles, waiting for Tara cross safely before following. 

The sound of the rain is muffled now, allowing Rosita to have full use of her hearing once again, making her feel slightly more comfortable as they make their way up a hallway. “Rosita,” Abe calls quietly and she moves next to him, frowning at the body in front of them. 

“He’s been ripped apart,” She breathes out, eyes scanning the dead soldier. “This isn’t good, it means the dead are closer than we thought,” Rosita murmurs even as she’s kneeling to roll the man over, removing his pack from his body before scooting away. 

She transfers everything from the bag to her own, planning on going through it all once they were safe. “Body is pretty fresh, we shouldn’t stick around too long,” She says once she’s stood up straight, wiping her hands on her shorts. 

“What does it mean if the body is fresh?” Tara asks softly as they continue down the hall, the light from the smugglers’ flashlights illuminating narrow passage. 

“It means that the infected that did this might still be close by,” Rosita replies, doing her best not to sound condescending, Tara couldn’t help that she had been sheltered. “Which means you need to stay close to us and be careful, okay?”

Tara’s only response is to nod and move closer to the Latina. The action makes Rosita smile slightly, something close to pride swelling in her chest at the thought of the defiant girl actually listening to her. 

“Shit, another one,” Abe announces as the women are climbing the stairs behind him, finding the man kneeling before a corpse so overtaken by the fungus that it was stuck to the door it was leaning against. “Fucking clicker,” He murmurs, pulling his mask over his face before proceeding to rip the body off of the door. 

“Why is its face like that?” Tara inquires as Abe shoves the corpse as far away from them as possible before motioning them to come near. “Are they blind or something?” 

“That’s what years of infection will do to a body,” Abe answers, stowing his mask once more. “They see using sound, like dolphins that will rip your neck open,” He chuckles before moving to pry the door open. 

Rosita catches the frown on Tara’s lips but doesn’t comment, instead she reached over and brushes her fingers against the younger woman’s arm, trying to offer some reassurance. She may think this whole mission was just a bomb waiting to explode, but she felt for the girl, she remembers what it’s like to be scared and confused. 

Tara offers a warm smile in response before they push forward, following the large man into the next room. “Just remember that if you hear clicking you need to hide and stay quiet. Otherwise they’ll find you...and it’s not pretty,” Rosita whispers, trying to make sure her new companion was informed. 

The younger girl nods, eyes flickering around the room, settling on the large hole in the opposite wall. “Shit...the whole building just feels like it’s going to fall apart,” Tara breathes, a shiver running through her. 

“Twenty years of bomb dropping can have that effect,” Abe snorts, swinging his flash light toward another hole in the wall, this one leading into the next room. “I’d like to stay inside for as long as possible, being out in the open is dangerous,” He says before striding through the gap. 

Tara and Rosita share a look before following after him. Rosita smirks as they come upon the man, gun drawn and pointed at a rolling desk chair. “Fucking thing, you’d think we were in a video game with shitty jump scares,” Abe grumbles before holstering the weapon. 

The girl’s snort, watching him move to the door, trying his best to get it to open. “Here, let me help,” Rosita says, not waiting to hear if he wanted her assistance or not. After their combined slamming of shoulders the door pops open.

“Rosita!” Abe shouts just in time for the woman to turn and see the clicker charging at her. She has just enough of a warning to have her hands out, gripping the monster’s throat as it shoves her to the ground. 

She manages to keep it’s grotesque mouth away from her as Abe straddles its back, driving his knife into its skull. The creature stops struggling against Rosita’s quaking arms, the dead weight making her groan with the effort of supporting it until the man is tossing it off of her. 

“ _ Chingado! _ ” She pants, taking the offered hand to get up and off the cold floor. She brushes herself off, trying not to appear as shaken as she feels. “Thanks,” She manages to say, ignoring Abe’s concern for her health. “Let’s see if we can find anything in these rooms, stay alert.” 

It’s Abe’s turn to share a look with Tara, only to follow after his partner, shaking his head a bit. “That was fucking intense...” Tara murmurs, biting her lip as she looks at the older woman’s back, worry bubbling in her chest. 

Her observation doesn’t receive a response from either of her companions who are both searching the room from top to bottom. Tara lets out a soft sigh before striding over to a pair of diminishing vending machines. She smirks as she fishes through the broken glass carefully, coming up with a candy bar that had somehow been overlooked. She stows it in her bag and waits for the other two to finish up their searching before they’re all moving again. 

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Abe murmurs as they make their way into the next room, which seems like some sort of loading area. “Look, up here,” The man says coming to kneel in front of the wall. “Just see if there’s a way through.”

Rosita nods, knowing now is not the time to try and show off and instead takes the offered boost, climbing up and over the ledge with ease. She stands slowly, scanning that part of the room before nodding a bit. “There’s a way, help Tara up.” 

Abe does as he’s told, hoisting the girl up to the ledge, allowing Rosita to pull her over it before moving back, taking his partner’s offered hand, hefting himself up next to them. “Alright.” 

“Clickers?” Rosita murmurs, eyes going wide at the familiar rattling sound. “Shit, go, go,” She breathes the command out, grabbing Tara’s arm as they rush to the next room, ducking behind an overturned desk. 

They watch as the infected ambles into the room, its guttural sound filling the still air. The group is frozen, watching it run into their hiding spot before shuffling toward the other end of the room. Rosita takes a breath as she reaches for a piece of rubble behind them, aiming toward the door they had come in before pitching it hard enough to shatter when it hit the floor outside. 

Abe is all action after the creature is distracted, pinning it to the ground before dispatching it with his hunting knife. Rosita relaxes only slightly at the knowledge of the clicker’s death, knowing that there had to be more in the building. They make their way through the rest of the office area, ducking behind desk and cubicle walls just to be safe. 

“That’s our way out, over the scaffolding,” Abe points out quietly, nodding toward what appears to be the remnants of a renovation project. The girl’s nod and make quick work of the climb, breathing a sigh of relief when the area below seems blissfully quiet. 

“Just because we can’t hear anything now, doesn’t mean there aren’t any around, stay vigilant.” Rosita reminds them before lowering herself down to the other side of the scaffolding. “Are you okay, Tara?” She asks once they’re down, brows raised. 

“Other than shitting my pants, I’m dandy,” Tara responds, shaking her head a bit as they move down the stairs and toward more of the unknown. “Wouldn’t it be safer to find a place to hide until day time?” She asks, a slight frown on her lips. 

“It could be, but we need to get you to the capitol by morning or you might just miss your ride out of this shit hole,” Rosita replies, biting her lip as they continue forward. 

Tara just nods, a hand in her pocket, surely clutching her switchblade. Rosita knew the girl had a point, but the likelihood of them stopping now was slim, even if they didn’t have a time constraint. Abe wanted this mission done and over with and nothing would stop him, so Rosita wouldn’t even try. 

“The stairwell is blocked, should we go back up?” Abe asks as they drop down from the landing above, finding nothing but rubble in front of them. 

“What about that?” Tara asks, nodding toward what used to be scaffolding for a window washer, somehow still attached to the building. “We could use it to get to the next window.” 

“That’s so crazy it might work,” Abe commends, stepping over the broken glass and onto the platform. It shakes slightly under his weight but seems to be sturdy enough. “I think it’s okay, let’s go.” 

Rosita frowns slightly, but follows, doing her best not to look anywhere but the back of Tara’s head. The infected she could face, that death was quick, falling from great heights...not so much. She doesn’t breathe until she’s back on solid ground, hoping she doesn’t look as shaken as she feels. 

She does well enough, as they continue forward without a word. They’re barely ten feet down the hall before she feels a gentle touch against the back of her hand, looking over to find Tara giving her a look similar to the one Rosita had given her earlier. She’s grateful for the reassurance and responds with a small smile before turning her head forward, trying to stay focused on the current situation instead of the warmth that seems to flood from the spot Tara had touched. 

They don’t get far before the familiar sounds of the infected fill the air, making Rosita stiffen up, her hold on the gun in her hand tightening ever so slightly. “Runners.” She murmurs as a screech echoes off the concrete walls. “Stay with the girl, I’ll take care of them,” Rosita commands, not waiting for a reply before heading off. She knows that even if something happens to her, Tara is safer with her tank of a partner. 

She makes her way down toward the lower level, the rain had thankfully slowed to a drizzle, giving her an advantage as she creeps along. She observes the small pack of runners, they were fast and aggressive but relatively easy to kill if you were smart. She’s ready to move when she spots the clicker off to the left of the group and silently curses. There’s almost no way to kill a pack of runners quietly so she takes a risk and pulls her gun up, aiming at the clicker’s face. The sound of the shot bounces off the concrete, alerting the runners to her position, but she was happy enough. 

She stood her ground, waiting for the infected to round the corner, taking them out one by one, with perfect headshots. She picks up a rock from the ground, banging it on some metal railing off to the side just to make sure the area was clear before calling for her companions. 

They move forward, Abe clapping her on the back. “Risky move there, Espinosa,” He murmurs, making them both smile. “You know, I was thinkin’...after this is over and we get back, we can take it easy for a little while.” 

The comment surprises Rosita, knowing how restless the man got when there wasn’t enough action. “You wanna take it easy?” She chuckles, glancing at her partner with brows raised. 

“Hey, you’re the one always going on about layin’ low,” He replied, a smirk on his lips as they head into what seems like the basement. “And I won’t brush you off this time, I mean it, I just wanna settle down for a little while.” 

Rosita frowns when her feet hit water, not thrilled with having to wade through water filled with who knows what again. “I’ll believe it when I see it, Abe,” She murmurs, sloshing through the flooding carefully.

She’s grateful that they’re only wading for a short while, before they come to an incline leading up toward a landing. Abe seems content with her answer as they move along, the chill from all the moisture finally catching up with Rosita. She shivers slightly, but doesn’t complain as they move forward, she had endured much worse than a little cold water. 

They somehow seem to be going further underground as they continue on, winding around rubble until their feet hit the tiled floor of what seems like the old subway system. Rosita had only ever been on the subterranean train once in her life and it had only looked slightly better than it's current state. 

“Another dead one,” Abe murmurs, kneeling next to the corpse. “Look at the sleeve, this was a Firefly,” He points out, the fact making Tara frown but the younger woman stays quiet. 

“Yup, these guys aren’t doing very well in or out of the city,” Rosita sighs, hand reaching out for what appears to be a bottle of alcohol that had rolled under a nearby bench. “Damn, one-fifty-one, he was either hoping for a party or looking to burn shit down.” 

“You never know,” Abe replies, standing up straight as Rosita stashes the bottle into her bag. “Let’s just hope there’s someone alive at the drop off to meet us.” 

They’re moving again soon after, stumbling upon another Firefly corpse, this one with a map and a vague description of Tara. “These guys are from the quarantine zone,” Rosita notes, stuffing the paper into her pocket.  “Not one of the city’s people.” 

Abe rolls his eyes but doesn’t respond, instead he takes the lead once more, leaving Rosita to walk with Tara close to her side. She wants to ask her if she’s okay, but then the sounds of clickers echo off the walls and they’re forced to stay low, stay quiet and move around the small pack. 

It seems like years before they’re out of the office building, a large wall only passed by an oddly placed ladder, standing between them and the infected. “Holy shit we actually made it out,” Tara chuckles breathlessly, when their feet hit soft mud. 

Rosita can’t help but laugh right along with her, more because it was easier than dealing with the fear that had coiled in her chest during their trek through the infected. “That we did, darlin’, that we did,” She grins, ignoring the look that Abe was giving them both. 

“Not far now,” The man says, nodding toward the golden dome of the capitol building that can be seen over the mound of rubble they had to climb. 

“You guys are pretty good at this stuff,” Tara says as they climb, somehow managing not to slip on the wet concrete. “How do you manage it?” 

“It’s called luck and it’s gonna run out eventually,” Abe replies before Rosita can come up with something more eloquent. “Now, can we stop with the questions and just focus?” He asks though it doesn’t seem like he’s looking for an answer. 

Once they’re to the top of the pile, they head west, following the streets toward that dull dome. It all seems too easy and then they’re being chased by a small pack of runners, narrowing escaping with the help of a steel loading door and whatever may be looking out for them. “Fuck, we just can’t catch a break,” Rosita pants as she pushes herself up and off the floor. She had barely made it under the door before the infected had reached them. 

“Uh...you have something on your shoe,” Tara says softly, frowning down at the ground by Rosita’s feet. Sure enough, the severed arm of the runner who had grabbed her ankle before the door dropped was still loosely attached to her. 

She shakes it off without a word, turning to examine the room. It seems to be a workshop of some sort but she doesn’t stop to search through it, wanting this all to just be finished. A set of stairs leads them to what seems like the main part of an old hotel, which appears blissfully empty. 

It’s a maze of broken timber and concrete, so when they come to what seems to be a fallen support beam blocking their way, Abe decides to play the Hulk. He wedges another thick board under it and lifts it high enough for the girls to crawl through. It seems to be the perfect plan before the ceiling above starts to collapse, causing Abe to fall and the debris to go with it. 

The thud echoes through the empty building, along with Abe’s cursing. “Stay there, I’ll find a way around to you!” He shouts, his voice being drowned out by the guttural sounds of the infected. 

“Shit, they’re here, go Tara, go!” Rosita shouts, shoving Tara toward the only other exit in the room. She can hear Abe shouting after them and she can only assume that he’s reminding them that he’ll come for them, but all she can focus on is keeping Tara in front of her. 

They sprint down the hall, the daunting sounds of the clickers not far behind but then there’s a door and she takes a risk and can only hope her luck hasn’t run out. “Tara, that door ahead to the left, go for it!” She yells over the incessant noise behind them. 

Tara does as she’s told, shoving the door open, holding it until Rosita skids into the room. She shuts it as quickly yet quietly as possible and all they can do is pray that the infected won’t break the door down. 

The banging on the door stops after what seems like an eternity, the handle turning slowly. Rosita shoves Tara behind her and draws her gun, aiming it at the door, only to lower it when Abe’s face comes into view. “Thank fuck,” he says lowly, shaking his head. 

Dark blood is splattered across his clothes, showing that he had been busy on his trek to them. “You look like shit,” Rosita chuckles before they’re moving again. 

Their fight is far from over, but they manage to wade through the pack of runners they encounter, leaving them exhausted, but feeling lucky. “That was too damn close...” Abe murmurs, running a hand over his face. 

They look around for a way out and in the third room they check, they find a fire escape that will take them to the roof. “Are you okay?” Rosita asks Abe when she catches him bent over, hands on his knees. 

“Yeah, just a bit winded, taking out a few dozen infected will do that to ya,” He smirked, standing up straight, nodding toward the broken window that leads to their way out. 

She’s unconvinced but doesn’t push the man, not wanting to bruise his ego. Reaching the roof is it’s own kind of victory, one that is highlighted once they get to the next roof over, earning a lovely view of the very beginning of the sunrise. 

“Is it everything you hoped for?” Rosita finds herself asking Tara as they take in the sight and she is silently grateful that the rain had stopped and the sun would be shining soon. Surely that was a sign of their luck, right?

“Jury’s still out...but you can’t deny that view,” Tara replies, a soft sigh falling from her lips as she stares at the brightness on the horizon. “The dome on the capitol looks beautiful,” She all but whispers, taking in the way the first rays of light reflect off the gold. 

“Almost makes nearly dying worth it,” Rosita chuckles lowly, adjusting her hat as they move across the roof. “Almost.”  


	4. Goodbye

“We’re in the final stretch now, Rosita,” Abe says over his shoulder as they walk up one of the side streets near the capitol building. She can’t say she’s not excited about the prospect of this being over, but she knows she’ll miss the smart mouthed Tara once it is all said and done.   
  
“Is that flooding up head?” Tara asks, the concern in her voice making Rosita turn to look at the other woman. “Cause if it is, I should probably tell you that I can’t swim.”   
  
“You’re twenty-two and you don’t know how to swim?” Rosita asks, brows raised as they come to the spot in the road where the river had overtaken the pavement.   
  
“My dad was getting to it before all this happened but he died before I got into highschool and my sister didn’t exactly have time to do it while she was pregnant,” Tara retorts, frowning at the greenish water. “Didn’t seem like a priority after the outbreak.”   
  
Rosita and Abe share a look before Rosita lets out a sigh, shifting until she’s standing in front of Tara. “Just get on my back and hang on,” She says,glancing over her shoulder.

Tara hesitates for a moment before climbing onto Rosita’s back, locking her hands before resting them on Rosita’s chest. “I’m sorry...” She mumbles as Rosita adjusts her weight, gripping the backs of her thighs.

“It’s fine, just stay calm, okay?” Rosita replies softly before she starts wading into the chilly water. She can feel Tara tense against her but the younger girl does a good job of hiding her fear as they make their way to the other side.

The cool water numbs the irritation of Rosita’s wounds, washing away the dried blood, leaving the wound cleaner than it had been the whole night. “You’re bleeding again,” Tara murmurs when she climbs off of Rosita’s back, a frown on her lips.

“I’ll patch it up later, we’re almost there,” Rosita says, though she wishes she could take the time to do it now. She glances away from Tara to look at her partner, finding the man looking a little worse for wear.

He flashes her a smile and nods toward their building, signalling they should move on. Rosita bites her lip but doesn’t stop to question him about how he’s feeling, knowing he wouldn’t tell her the truth anyway. They had plenty of time after the mission to fix each other up and live their lives.

“I’m glad Carol hired you guys,” Tara says quietly as they head up the street, looking between the pair with a slight smile when they ask what she means. “Look, I know you’re getting paid for this but...I’m trying to say thanks.”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Abe murmurs, trying his best to sound gruff even though Rosita knows he’s touched.

Rosita chuckles lowly as they head up the stairs to the capitol building, opening the door to find that the group of Fireflies had been killed. “No,” Rosita breathes out, shoving the door open as she rushes over to one of the bodies, pressing her fingers to his neck in a futile attempt to find a pulse. “Fuck.”

“What happens now?” Tara asks, her voice barely above a whisper as she takes in the bloody scene before them.

“Abe, what are you doing?” Rosita asks, avoiding Tara’s question as she stands, watching Abe pat the pockets of a corpse across the room.

“Maybe they had a map or something,” Abe murmurs, frustration evident in his tone. “Anything that might have said where they were going to take her.”

Rosita sighs softly, moving to kneel next to her partner. “How far are we going to take this?” She asks, exhaustion finally getting the best of her.

“As far as we need to,” Abe huffs, shoving the body a bit before looking up at Tara. “Where’s this lab of theirs?”

Tara jumps a bit at the urgency in his tone, frowning slightly. “She never really said,” She replies, rubbing the back of her neck. “The most Carol ever said about it, was that it was out west.”

“What are we doing, Abe?” Rosita asks, moving to stand over her. “This isn’t us.”

This seems to piss the man off as he shoves up from the ground to look him in the eye. “What do you know about us? About me?” He asks, eyes narrowing at her partner.

“I know that you are smarter than this,” She replied, not bothering to back down as he enters her personal space.

“Really? Guess what, we’re shitty people Rostia!” He shouts, gesturing between the two of them. “It’s been that way for a long time now. You were the one who said we could be better, that we had a chance!”  

“It’s over, Abe. They’re all dead!” Rosita growls, putting herself right in his face, eyes narrowed as if she was challenging him to say differently. “Now, we tried. We need to go home.”

“I-I’m not going anywhere,” Abe says, his tone much softer now, watching Rosita turn toward him, confusion slowly replacing anger. “This is my last stop. Our luck had to run out sooner or later, right?” He chuckles slightly, shaking his head a bit.

“Abe, what are you on about?” Rosita asks, taking a step toward him, reaching a hand out, jumping when he jerks away from her. “What...”

“Don’t touch me, just don’t,” He murmurs the reply, taking a step away from both of them.

“Holy shit...” Tara breathes, eyes flickering between the two partners. “He’s infected...”

“Rosita...I-” Abe starts, watching her back away from him slowly, the anger returning to her features. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Show me it!” Rosita shouts, her lower lip trembling as she stares down the only person she’s opened her heart to in ten years. “Show me the damn bite, Abe!” She exclaims when the man hesitates.

“Fine,” He huffs, pulling back the collar of his jacket, revealing an angry looking wound, the veins around it black with infection. “Oops, right?”

Rosita can feel the world slipping from under her feet, like the floor below her would give way any moment. Abe was going to die, her best friend would be gone in a matter of hours and she would be alone again.

“Now don’t you start slipping into an existential crisis, ya hear?” Abe grunts, moving toward Tara, holding his hand out for her arm. “Lemme see it, kid,” He murmurs, pushing the fabric of her sleeve up.

“This is three weeks, I was bitten an hour ago and it’s already worse,” He says, letting go of Tara to turn toward Rosita. “You were right, Rosita. This is fucking real and you’ve got to get this girl to Rick’s. He used to run with these guys, he’s gotta know where the lab is.”

“I-I can’t do that Abe, this was just some stupid crusade,” Rosita replies, swallowing hard as she looks up at the man. “I can’t do this.”

“Yes you can, you can Rosita,” Abe replies, grabbing her hands in his. “There’s got to be enough between us for you to feel some sort of obligation to me, so you get her to Rick’s. Do it for me, do it because I’ve always known you were better than this life we chose.”

Rosita is startled by the amount of emotion coming from the man, but before she can say anything, the familiar sound of military trucks rings through the air. “Shit, they’re here.”

“I can buy you some time, but you guys have to run” Abe says, checking the clip in his handgun as he slides off his pack. “Tara, take this, use it.”

Tara stares at the bag that’s being thrust into her hands for only a moment before putting it on, crushing her own small backpack under it, she’ll worry about it later. “You just want us to leave you here?” She asks, looking up at the man. Even though he had been an asshole to her the entire trip, she was scared for him, felt for him enough that she wishes she could fix this.

“Yes,” He says simply, shooting Rosita a look when she starts to protest. “I will _not_ turn into one of those things,” He says firmly, grabbing Rosita’s shoulders gently, looking into those dark eyes. “C’mon, make this easy for me...”

Rosita can feel the tears building in her eyes as she looks up at the man who had kept her safe all these years. “I can fight...”

“No! Just go, complete the mission...save the world goddammit,” He says roughly, pushing her forward. He’s wearing that wicked grin of his saved for moments of indulgence. “Just do me proud, Rosi.”

Rosita’s heart crumbles in her chest as she nods just a bit, looking toward Tara. “Tara,” She murmurs, watching the woman flinch a little. “Let’s get a move on,” She says as she starts to back away from Abe, unable to break eye contact yet.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Tara all but whispers before heading toward the hall.

Rosita wants to say something, but that’s never been their style and instead she removes a clip from her belt, knowing it’s a match for the gun in Abe’s hand. She tosses it to him before turning around and heading after Tara.

Abe chuckles softly, pocketing the clip before turning toward the door, taking a few steps backward. He was going to take those bastards on a wild goose chase. “I love you,” He murmurs just as the door slams open and the pursuit begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was painful, right? Don't worry though I'm not this much of an asshole, I plan on posting another chapter tonight as long as I can get it done. thanks so much for reading


	5. Trust

Rosita shuts the doors tightly, leaning her head against them for a minute before pushing away from it to look at the room. “I can’t believe we just did that,” Tara says, her voice echoing up the stairways. “We just left him to die.”

“Tara, stop. Stay close to me,” Rosita says coldly, picking a staircase to go up. “We need to get out of here so his sacrifice isn’t in vain. Come on, I think we can get out from upstairs.” 

They head up the stairs and down the hall, freezing at the open door that leads to the balcony overlooking the lobby. “ _ Target neutralized, he took out six of my men. Copy that. You two, take down the door and you, come with me.”  _ Rosita catches the soldier’s words as she crouches down, anger flaring in her chest. She wanted them all dead.

She can hear them slamming on the door below as they make their  way along the balcony, her eyes glued to the floor, jumping when she hears Tara gasp. “Abe...” The girl breathes and Rosita follows her gaze to the man’s body in the middle of the room. 

“Fuck...he didn’t even make it out of the lobby,” Rosita whispers to herself, tightening her jaw as she looks from Abe to the dead soldiers on the ground. They all deserved what they got. 

They’re already in the next room by the time the door slams open downstairs and a bit of panic ignites in Rosita’s stomach. “They’re almost here,” Tara hisses as they survey the room, finding a hole had been blasted through to the next building. 

“Come on, we can make the jump,” Rosita says, grabbing Tara’s arm. They make a run for the hole, clearing the gap easily enough. She let’s go of Tara long enough to look around the room, finding a body across the way, a hunting rifle still in its grasp, a box of ammo by it’s feet. 

She takes it, holstering her handgun before she’s grabbing Tara’s hand and tugging her along again. The shouts of the soldiers behind them in the other building fuel their run, hoping beyond hope they could get out of there without a fight. 

Shot rings out from the front of the room they had just entered, causing Rosita to shove Tara behind a pillar before crouching behind another. Rosita sets the rifle down, hoping to spare the ammo as she pulls her handgun back out shooting off a couple rounds, silencing the soldiers in the room. 

“Alright Tara, there should be a pistol in the side pocket of that bag and a couple boxes of ammo, I hope you know how to shoot,” Rosita says, taking her pack off to strap the rifle to it before slinging the bag back over her shoulders. 

Tara finds the pistol and checks how many rounds are in the clip it before sliding it back into place. “Let’s do this,” She murmurs, following Rosita closely. 

They take a moment to scavenge what they can from the soldiers, both of them donning bulletproof vests before making their way out of the room. Rosita lets out a groan as they get to the stairs, finding they had been blown out at some point. “We gotta jump, be careful, don’t lock your knees.

Tara nods as they both jump down, landing in crouches before heading down the hall. “What’re we doing? How are we gonna get out of here, Rosita?” She asks, biting her lip as she clutches her gun. 

“We’re gonna go through this hall, they’ve gotta be coming this way to comb the area,” Rosita murmurs as they crouch down behind a table that looked like it had been used as a blockade. “I’m hoping we can just slip around them, but I want you to stay down and only shoot when you have to, okay?” 

Tara nods a bit, readjusting her grip on the gun as they move forward. Soldier’s voices echo through the halls, putting both of them on edge as they try their best to creep around them. Tara couldn’t imagine them winning in a fight to these guys, but she trusted Rosita and that was enough. 

“There’s the exit,” Tara breathes behind Rosita, eyeing the open door onto the street. “Looks like there’s a subway entrance, maybe we could escape down there,” She suggests, swallowing hard. 

They’re crouched behind a pillar, waiting for a guard to move when another comes up behind them, landing a hit on Rosita before Tara is grabbing her arm and dragging them toward the subway. Bullets bounce off of the pavement as they move, Tara sending a silent prayer to anyone who could be listening to just let them make it through this. 

“Almost there,” Rosita says while they jump down where the stairs had crumbled away. “Go, go!” Rosita shouts, shoving Tara forward as a military truck parks in front of the entrance, shooting their machine gun at them. 

Rosita loses sight of Tara after a moment, hoping to god she wasn’t captured. “Tara...” She whispers, stopping when she sees a familiar yellowish tinge to the air up ahead. “Spores,” She huffs, pulling her mask on as she jogs past a mound of infectious fungus. 

She’s pulled to the side with a soft yelp, Tara whispering in her ear frantically about guards up ahead while Rosita tries to slow her heart rate. “How the hell are you breathing in this stuff?” Rosita asks when she realizes that the younger girl isn’t wearing a mask. 

“I wasn’t lying to you when I said I was immune,” Tara whispers back, peeking over the rubble they’re hiding behind to look at the two soldiers waiting for them. 

Rosita stares at her for a moment before nodding, following her gaze. “I’m going to try and sneak up behind one of them, do you think you can get the other?” She asks, not looking at her new partner. 

“I think so, yeah,” Tara murmurs, pulling her switchblade from her boot and her gun in her waistband. They had one good shot at this and all she could do is hope she didn’t mess it up. 

They move as one until they’re close enough to their targets, branching off so Tara can get behind hers. She lunges forward, wrapping an arm around the guy’s neck before shoving her blade up and under his jaw, effectively cutting his jugular. She’s covered in blood but so is Rosita and she figures they can worry about it later. 

“Let’s keep going,” Rosita huffs out, clearly winded. “We should be able to follow the tracks, go through the old train cars, just stay close.” 

Tara wants to say something, wants to try and convince Rosita that she needs to rest, but she knows that there’s no use and instead just nods her head. “Alright, let’s do this.” 

They make their way through the tunnel, ears open  for any signs of movement, alive or otherwise. “Shit, Tara you’re gonna have to trust me,” Rosita says when she stops at the end of the car, looking down at the stagnant green water flooding the tunnel. 

“I trust you,” Tara murmurs, watching the other woman lower herself into the water. She can hear the soft hiss Rosita makes, sounding like a curse word but Tara can’t be sure. 

“Alright, I want you to do what I just did, lower yourself, nice and slow and I’ll grab you,” Rosita says, treading water as she looks up at the girl. “But you have to stay calm, if you flail you’ll send us both under and I don’t have the energy to try and get us back to the surface, okay?” 

Tara nods slowly, moving her pack off so she can deposit her knife and gun into it for safekeeping. “Okay, I got this,” She murmurs as she slips the bag back on. She takes a deep breath, trying to steel herself against her feel as she begins to lower herself into the chilly water. 

Before panic can crawl up her spine, she feels Rosita clutching her arm, pulling her close. “You’re doing great, Tara, I just need you to move your legs like you’re trying to run, it’ll help you keep your head above water while I get you on my back.” 

Tara obeys the other woman, kicking her legs against the water, trying her best to concentrate on the movement as Rosita shifts in front of her. “Keep ahold of my bag and just relax, I’ll keep you safe,” The woman says and Tara does just that, trying her best not to panic as Rosita moves them along. 

It’s not long before Rosita is pausing, looking up at a pile of rubble too steep to climb onto. “Tara, I want you to grab onto one of those rocks and stay put, I’m going to see if there’s a way to swim under this, okay?” 

“Okay, I can do that,” Tara replies, reaching out to grab onto a piece of concrete. “Please be careful...” 

“Always am,” Is all Rosita says before she’s disappearing under the water. 

Tara can feel the panic building in her chest when Rosita doesn’t surface and she’s about to shout for her when she hears water breaking on the other side of the rubble. “Rosita?” 

“It’s alright, we can swim under, do you think you can handle that?” Rosita shouts back and Tara can hear the desperation in her voice. It didn’t matter if Tara could handle it, she would do it if it was the easiest option. 

“Yeah, I can do that!” Tara yells and after a few moments Rosita is back, bobbing in front of her. “What do you need me to do?” 

“I’m gonna keep an arm around you, but I’m gonna need you to kick your legs again,” Rosita says, leaning on a rock to catch her breath. “And just remember to stay calm and trust me, okay?” 

“Let’s just get this out of the way now so you can stop saying that,” Tara starts, looking at the woman with raised brows. “I trust you, okay? You don’t have to keep reminding me that I need to, because I just do.” 

Rosita frowns a little, nodding her head. “Sorry, I just-sorry,” Rosita murmurs, moving so she can grab Tara’s arm and pull her close. “You ready?” 

“As I’ll ever be,” Tara replies, allowing Rosita to pull her into the water once more. She takes a deep breath when Rosita tells her to and they dive under. She can feel the other woman’s arm around her waist as they kick forward, trying to stay as calm as possible as the murky water over takes them. 

They’re surfacing sooner than Tara anticipated and she’s never more grateful to see a subway platform than she is when their flash lights shine on the one across the way. “Thank god,” She chuckles, allowing Rosita to tow her along. 

They manage to climb onto the concrete, laying there for a minute, just trying to catch a breather before they’re moving again. Once they hit the street it's evident that they’ve managed to evade the soldiers and Rosita relaxes a little at that, noting where the sun is in the sky when she looks around the town. 

“We need to find somewhere to stay before sundown, I’m not going to be caught with our asses hanging out when it gets dark.” Rosita says, pulling her mask off with a frown. All of her anger and adrenaline has faded and all she wants is to sleep and find that when she wakes, it had all been a dream. 

“Okay,” Tara murmurs, feeling the exhaustion of the day finally settle on her shoulders. “Maybe those apartment buildings,” She suggests, nodding toward the tall brick buildings down the way. 

“Good eye,” Is all Rosita can manage to say before they trudge on. She’s thankful they don’t meet any obstacles on the way, nearly collapsing when they find an apartment that is somehow has an intact, unlocked door. 

“Are you okay?” Tara asks, watching Rosita sink to the floor, resting her back against the door. She knows that the answer won’t be yes, but she can’t think of anything else to say. 

“No, but I’ll live,” Rosita murmurs, dropping her head against the door to stare at the ceiling. She doesn’t want to feel, she doesn’t want to think. She just wants it to be over with. 

“Let me patch you up,” Tara murmurs as she takes off both of her packs, pulling the first aid kit Carol had given her before she had left. “Take your shirt off.” 

“Take a girl to dinner first,” Rosita snorts, but does as she’s told, removing her pack and shirt so Tara can get a look at the wound. 

“Ha, ha,” Tara huffs out, pulling out some gaze and the small bottle of alcohol. The wound is only about two inches long but isn’t deep enough to see muscle, that’s a good sign. “It’ll scar but it won’t kill you as long as you keep it clean.” 

Rosita is about to answer when Tara presses the alcohol soaked gauze to the wound. “ _ Meirda,  _ goddamnit that hurts,” She hisses out, trying her best not to just push Tara’s hand away. She knows this needs to be done. 

“I can stitch it if you want, it’ll help it heal a little faster, but it’s not necessary,” Tara says after a moment, tossing the bloody gauze to the side as she rummages around her bag for the suture kit Carol had taught her how to make.  

“Might as well, I don’t have time to constantly be changing a dressing when the blood soaks through,” Rosita huffs, watching the girl pull out a small plastic box, similar to a pencil case she had once owned in high school. “How do you know how to stitch people up?” She finds herself asking, hoping it's a good enough answer, because she doesn’t think she can handle doing them herself. 

“My sister went to nursing school and when everything happened, she taught me enough first aid to keep me alive,” Tara hums, pouring a little bit of alcohol into the lid of the container, dropping her need and what appeared to be fishing line into it. She let it sit while she prepared her hands and the wound with more alcohol. 

“Smart woman,” Rosita replies, gritting her teeth against the sting. “Fuck me, why can’t this be painless?” 

“Mm, without pain we wouldn’t know we’re alive,” Tara says softly, getting the needle and thread ready. “I’m sorry about this, about everything,” She murmurs before she starts stitching, wincing when Rosita starts to curse again. 

Tara wishes it had been over sooner than it was, but Rosita is patched up and that’s enough. They don’t say much after that, except to ask one another about food or water. When night comes, Tara makes Rosita sleep first, taking up watch by the door, hoping that by some miracle this might help make up for everything that had happened. 

She knows it won’t but she can hope anyway, right? 


	6. Moving Forward

Morning comes sooner than Tara would like, Rosita shaking her shoulder roughly as soon as there’s enough light to move on. “Come on, we’ve got to get moving,” The older woman says, pulling away as soon as Tara rolls over to look at her.

“Where are we even going?” Tara asks, rubbing a hand over her face as she sits up slowly. Her chest aches as she looks over at Rosita, who despite sleeping most of the night, look overly exhausted.

“There’s a town a few miles north of here,” Rosita starts as she pulls her shirt up to inspect her wound. “There’s a guy there that owes me some favors. Safe bet he could get us a car.” She says, peeling the blood stained gauze away, tossing it to the side.

“Here, let me,” Tara hums, shifting off the couch fully, reaching for her med kit as she kneels in front of Rosita. “It looks a little red around the edges and it’s a bit warm but that’s to be expected, do we have any Tylenol,” She murmurs, reaching for a fresh piece of gauze and the alcohol.

Rosita hisses softly at the sting of the alcohol. “I think there’s some in that bag Abe gave you,” She says, trying not to wince when Tara smooths another bandage over her stitch job.

Tara nods a bit, shifting away to grab the bag. She had spent the night transferring what little she had had in her own bag over to the much larger military issue pack Abe had given her. “Here it is,” She murmurs after a moment, pulling out a little baggy of white pills. She pulls two of them out, along with her water bottle and handed them over to Rosita.

Rosita looks at the pills for a moment before popping them into her mouth with a sigh, swallowing them dry. “Now that we’ve taken care of that, I think we need to have a talk,” She says, watching Tara zip the bag shut once more.

“Okay?” Tara murmurs, standing up to sling the pack onto her back, realizing just how heavy it was.

“I’ve got a couple of rules, if I’m going to be dragging your ass across the country,” Rosita starts, getting her things around. “First, we don’t talk about Abe, ever, in fact I’d appreciate if we kept our pasts to ourselves. Secondly, don’t tell anyone about your...condition, they’ll either think you’re crazy or they’ll want to kill you.”

Tara frowns at that, opening her mouth to argue, getting cut off by Rosita’s continued rant. “And lastly, you do what I say when I say it, am I understood?” She asks, watching Tara nod a bit. “Repeat it.”

“What you say, goes,” Tara replies, arms crossing over her chest as she stares at the former soldier. Rosita nods a bit, turning away from her to take a look around the apartment before heading toward the door.

Tara never really thought about just how long ten miles was until she was walking through the overtaken city streets. The day before her blood had been laced with adrenaline, the constant need to move forward throbbing in her chest, but today; today was somber and overly quiet. Her thoughts wandered all over the place, stuttering to a halt when Rosita stops in front of her.

“There we go,” Rosita hums, pointing toward the water tower in the distance. “It’ll be faster to go through here,” she says as she hops over the guardrail, heading down the embankment.

“Wow...” Tara breathes as they head into the overgrowth, craning her neck to take it all in. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she murmurs, reaching a hand up  to brush through a willow’s leaves.

“Seriously?” Rosita asks, glancing over her shoulder at the younger girl. “Not even before the outbreak?”

Tara shrugs a bit, plucking a leaf from the tree as they continue forward. “We lived in a development my whole life,” she replied, running her thumb over the smooth surface of the frond.

“That sucks,” Rosita says lamely, biting her lip as she moves forward. “Just-uh-keep your guard up, you never know who or what could be hiding in the trees.

Tara nods a bit but doesn’t say anything as she follows Rosita, watching how the evening sun breaks through the canopy. “Why don’t you just take me back to Carol?” she finds herself asking, rubbing her hands together absentmindedly.

“If she was up to the task, why’d she drop you off on us?” Rosita asks, frowning a bit when Tara murmurs about how Carol could be doing better. “Listen, I don’t mean to upset you, but your friend’s chances of survival weren’t too high to begin with.”

“She’s a lot tougher than you think,” Tara argues, her brow furrowing as she quickens her pace so she’s next to Rosita.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rosita snaps, gaze cutting to the girl. “I doubt I could get either one of us back in the city now. Trust me, I wish there were another option, but there isn’t. You’re stuck with me for now.”

Tara wants to argue, wants to defend the woman who had taken her in when everything else went to hell, but she knows there’s no use, no changing Rosita’s mind. So, she stays quiet following Rosita up the small hill and toward the fenced in area surrounding the water tower.

“Should we climb it?” She asks as Rosita kicks the chained gate out of frustration.

“Not with that wire around the top of it,” Rosita replies, shaking her head a bit as she starts walking toward the other end. “We gotta find a way to go around.”

They head around  to the other side, Tara pausing when she see little specs of light flickering in front of her. “Wow...look,” she breathes, reaching out to catch one in her palm. “Fireflies...like real fireflies.”

The sight makes Rosita smile for a second, before her features are settling back into their usual neutral look. “Yeah, I see that,” she murmurs before continuing around the fence.

“Sorry I--” Tara starts, walking after the woman. “--I lost myself for a second.”

Rosita doesn’t reply as she climbs her way onto the roof of one of the outlying buildings, getting a look around. “I think we can make the jump from here to the roof there,” she murmurs, trying to get a feel for the distance.

“Y-yeah, sure,” Tara replies, glancing down at the ground before backing up toward the middle of the roof. It wasn’t that it was that high, it was just disconcerting, the idea of launching herself from one building to the next. “Wait, what the hell is  this?” Tara asks, moving toward what appears to be a pipe with a pair of scissors taped to it.

Rosita starts laughing when Tara picks it up, the sound making Tara feel warm all over. “What kind of idiot taped a fucking pair of scissors to a lead pipe?” She asks through chuckles, shaking her head a bit. “Let alone left it on top of this roof?”

“Whoever they are...thanks for the pipe,” Tara hums, peeling the scissors off of the metal, tucking them away before sliding the weapon into one of the many loops on her bag. “Suppose we should get this over with.”

Rosita nods as she backs up from the edge a few feet before running toward it, launching herself forward, skidding across the other roof, kicking up dust. “Alright, come on, Tara.”

Tara takes in a few calming breathes as she takes those steps back, swallowing down the fear before she’s moving forward. She trips upon landing, her face slamming into the concrete with enough force to make her dizzy.

“Shit, are you okay?” Rosita asks, kneeling beside the younger girl, resting a hand between Tara’s shoulder blades.

“M’fine, just...give me a second,” Tara replies, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to ward off the buzzing in her head. She spits out a mouthful of blood as she pushes herself up, wiping her lips clean once she’s righted. “Let’s go.”

Rosita blinks a few times before she’s staring off toward the horizon, watching smoke curl through the air. “I hope that’s Eugene,” she hums to herself, tucking her hands into her pockets.

“Where do you usually meet him?” Tara asks, rubbing her face gently as she stands next to Rosita, watching the way the smoke moves across the sky.

“Oh, different places,” Rosita murmurs lowly, hoping off the roof. There was something off about the way she says it that has Tara wondering.

“You’ve never been here before have you?” Tara muses, following after the older woman with a knowing smirk.

“I know that this is where he lives but..no, I haven’t been here before,” Rosita admits, snorting softly.

Tara rolls her eyes a bit, spitting out a little more blood as they walk, trying to ignore the way the side of her face throbs. “And you think that smoke is him?”

“It damn well better be,” Rosita replies as they head down the slight incline, finding a hole in the fence that leads to another part of the city. “It’s a bit of a drop, be careful,” Rosita says softly as she climbs down.

Tara nods a bit, hopping down and landing with a little more force than she had anticipated, causing her to stumble a bit. Before she can fall, Rosita’s arms are wrapped around her, keeping her up right.

“I told you to be careful,” Rosita’s says lowly, the warmth in her words causing Tara to shiver just a bit. “You’ve had too many head injuries in the last twenty-four hours.”

“T-thanks,” Tara mumbles when Rosita pulls away. Her cheeks burn as Rostia’s eyes roam her face, a slight frown on the older woman’s lips.

“You’re bruised from that soldier hitting you yesterday,” Rosita breathes out, her hand lifting a fraction of an inch forward before it’s dropping down by her side once more. “And you’re going to be black and blue from that stumble earlier too, people might think I’m beating you.”

The last part is said like a throw away joke and it makes Tara frown a bit as she forces out a small chuckle. “Let’s go, yeah?” She says, taking a few steps back from Rosita, trying to give herself some breathing room.

Rosita nods to herself and starts forward, only to stop dead in her tracks as the familiar sound of Clickers from the small building complex below them. “Are you fucking kidding me,” she hisses through her teeth, pulling her hunting knife from it’s sheath.

“Rosita, I think we can go around them, look,” Tara says, pointing toward the gate at the end of the alley. “They’re below the stairs, if we’re quiet, we could just go through the gate.”

The older woman looks wary, but nods, knowing it would be safer to do it this way. “Okay, but stay close,” she murmurs and they begin their way forward, slowly and quietly.

Each moment seems like it lasts for hours and Tara is surprised the sun is still shining when they reach the gate, only to find that it has been barred shut from the other side. “Fuck,” Tara breathes out, the eerie sounds of the clickers echoing off the walls behind them.

“It’s okay, I’ll boost you over and you can move that pipe,” Rosita reasons, head whipping behind them to make sure they were still safe before she’s crouching, hands cupped in front of her. “Careful, quiet, okay?”

Tara nods and before she knows it she’s dropping on the other side of the gate. She removes the pipe as quietly as possible, only breathing when the gate is swinging open, the creaking making them both jump. “Quick!”

Rosita is shoving the pipe back into the handles of the gate just as two clickers slam into it, hands clawing at the chain link. “ _Come mierda_ , fuckers!” Rosita yells, almost cackling the words out.

Tara’s heart is thudding hard in her chest as she watches the creatures struggle with the gate, their faces nothing but fungal plates, thick dark blood oozing from the bases. “That was too close,” she whispers, shaking her head a bit.

“It was, but you did so well, Tara,” Rosita grins, kicking the gate before she starts to turn around, eyes finding Tara’s. “So well.”

Tara blushes at that, clearing her throat a bit. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go find this friend of yours,” she mumbles, running a hand through her hair.

Rosita nods, glancing around the streets before heading down one. “So, if we get a car from this guy, then what?” Tara asks as she follows after Rosita, eyes flickering around the street.

“Then we go and find Rick,” Rosita replies, eyes narrowing at a bar sign for a moment before heading toward it, walking into the gaping hole in the front of it. “There should be a way through here.”

“Carol said that Rick is your uncle,” Tara says softly, fingers trailing over an old arcade game in the corner while Rosita rifles through cabinets for anything useful.

“More importantly, he was a Firefly, he’ll know where to take you. He lives pretty far from here, which is why we need the car,” Rosita says softly, scoffing a bit when she pulls a pair of scissors out of a drawer. “Fucks sake.”

Tara chortles softly, leaning against the console as Rosita walks toward her. “You know, I used to be a pro at Mortal Kombat,” she brags, a slight smirk on her face.

“Oh yeah?” Rosita snorts while she pockets the scissors despite herself. “Fuckin’ nerd.”

Tara shrugs a bit, brushing her fingers over the buttons once more before pushing away fro the machine. “I kinda wish I could play it one more time,” she admits, following Rosita through a door that leads to another alley.

“Sorry, kid,” Rosita murmurs as they walk, coming up onto a huge barricade that stretches from the back alleys and into a row of apartment buildings. “Yup, definitely Eugene’s handiwork.”

“Jesus, does anyone else live here?” Tara asks as she gazes up at the wall of debris and razor wire.

“As far as I know, it’s just him,” Rosita hums, looking around at the surrounding buildings to try and find a way around it. “There’s a way back here I think,” Rosita says, nodding toward the alley across the street that looks like it wraps around the apartment complex.

There’s something off about how easy it is to find their way around the barricade, easy until they see a clicker ambling toward them, only to have itself blown up in the middle of the alley. “What the fuck was that?” Tara shouts, her ears ringing from the small blast.

“That, sweetheart, was one of Eugene’s traps,” Rosita replies, rubbing her ear for a moment before she starts forward. “There’s probably other trip wires, so just keep your eyes peeled.”

“Your friend seems a bit paranoid,” Tara snorts, trying to ignore the smell of burnt flesh that lingers in the air.

“Oh, that’s putting it lightly,” Rosita chuckles, heading toward the only door near them, hoping it would be open.

“What’s the deal with this guy?” Tara asks once they’re inside, feeling a bit safer once they were off the street.

“Well, he helped us smuggle things into the city,” Rosita replies softly, flicking on her flashlight to scan the dim room. “He’s...He knows how to find things.”

“That’s not vague at all,” Tara snorts, eyes flickering around the dilapidated room, frowning a bit at the debris lining the floor.

“Well, it’s all you need to know,” Rosita replies, nodding to herself once she was sure the place was secure. “We should crash here tonight, the sun is getting too low for us to safely navigate the city.”

“It's bad enough having to look out for infected but now we have to keep an eye out for traps that your buddy laid out, it's grand,” Tara huffs, throwing her bag down by the broken down couch in the middle of what used to be a living room.

“We’ll survive,” Rosita snaps, sitting down on the floor, pulling her bag in front of her. “What do you want to eat?” She asks, pulling a couple of military ration packs out of the bottom of her bag.

“I’m not all that hungry,” Tara lies, curling up on the couch instead of looking at Rosita. She didn’t want to take any of Rosita’s food from her, she already felt like enough of a burden.

“Don’t lie to me,” The older woman says as she rips open one of the packets. She gets one started as she shuffles through the others, finding one she prefered before getting it started too. “Can’t have you going hungry, a weak person is as dangerous as a strong one.”

Tara opens her mouth to argue, but there’s something about the way the words come out that has her sitting up to watch Rosita. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen someone make an MRE,” she says softly as Rosita pours water into a bag.

“It’s pretty simple to be honest,” Rosita murmurs, making sure to slide another little package into the bag before sealing it. “We stocked up on these a while back, I don’t like eating them all the time, but since we didn’t have anything earlier, the more calories the better.”

Tara nods, listening to the crackle of the heating packets as she sniffs the air. “Doesn’t smell to bad,” she admits, her stomach growling loudly.

“Mm, most of them aren’t terrible,” Rosita hums, pulling out two little cups. “Do you want coffee or like a gatorade sort of drink?”

“Gatorade, coffee is gross,”Tara replies, her nose crinkling as she slowly slides from the couch to sit across from Rosita.

“Okay,” Rosita adds water to one of the cups and then the packet from the first MRE, stirring it with a spoon before handing it over to the younger girl. “This is bread and cheese spread, I can tell you it won’t taste like how you think it’s going to but, it’s something to snack on while you wait for your food to heat up.”

Tara nods a bit, ripping open the two packet’s she's handed, sniffing the cheese spread before helping herself to it. It tastes like a glorified snack cracker with cheese whiz and Tara can’t say she hates it, but if she had a choice, she probably wouldn’t eat it again.

They’re pretty silent through the rest of the meal, the day’s events settling over them like a thick blanket. They accomplished much, but both felt like no progress had been made. It isn’t until Tara has trouble sleeping, the pain her her jaw too great, that Rosita even speaks up again.

“Take this,” She murmurs, pressing a little pill into Tara’s hand, offering her a water bottle. “It’ll help.”

Tara doesn’t argue and just swallows the pill down with a mouthful of water before quietly thanking her companion. She's unsure of what the medicine is, but she’s asleep before she can give it much thought, drifting off watching Rosita’s back in the soft light of the moon.


	7. A New Dawn, a New Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fluff to get you through

Rosita is awake far before Tara even begins to stir, taking the time to reflect on the last few days. If they had just settled, just let Phillip go, maybe things would be different now. She would be waking up in Abe’s bed, curled around his warmth, safe and sound. “Stupid revenge schemes...” 

She can’t help but think of all the what ifs while she’s changing her bandages. What if they hadn’t gotten separated, what if they had gone a different way, what if they had just told Carol no. What if, what if, what if. Her thoughts are interrupted by Tara’s shifting on the couch, reminding her that she had a job to finish. 

She lets out a soft sigh before she’s digging out a few granola bars and small container of chocolate protein powder. She had scoffed when Abe had traded twenty ration cards for a case of the stuff, but it proved it's worth. She measured out enough for two water bottles and made them up, breakfast would be on the go today. 

“Tara, wake up,” Rosita hums, shaking the slumbering girl gently. “Come on, I know you’re tired, but I’ve got breakfast,” she says the last part much the same way she would have said it if she were trying to wake her brother on a school day. 

“Five more minutes,” Tara mumbles, burying her face into her jacket as she curls up tighter. Rosita just smiles softly, rolling her eyes a bit as she watches the younger girl. 

“Don’t make me lay on you,” Rosita threatens, smiling even wider as Tara snorts. “Don’t believe me, eh?” She chuckles before laying her entire body on top of Tara’s curled up form. 

“Oh my god,” Tara giggles, wiggling under her a bit. “You actually fucking did it, you’re such a dork!” 

“I never make empty threats,” Rosita grins, her face pressed close enough to Tara’s neck to make the younger girl shiver under her. 

Tara swallows hard, her cheeks burning as she buries her tender face further into her jacket in an attempt to hide her blush. “Alright, alright, I get it, I’m up.” 

“You sure?” Rosita smirks, her fingers poking at Tara’s sides, earning a small squeak from her companion. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into her, but this was good for them, made up for some of the shit from the previous days. 

“Yep, totally sure that I want you off of my body,” Tara mumbles, clearing her throat when Rosita shifts on top of her. Lips brush against her ear, making Tara freeze, teeth embedded in her lower lip. 

“Remember this the next time you don’t take me seriously,” Rosita whispers, a slight smirk on her lips as she moves away. A smug sort of satisfaction preening in her chest when she notices the pink around the edges of Tara’s cheek, unsure why she felt the need to fluster her companion. 

“You’re an ass,” Tara huffs as she sits up, bringing her fingers up to the swollen side of her face, wincing slightly. “You said something about breakfast?” 

Rosita frowns at the bruising that spreads from the edge of Tara’s temple, down across her cheek and along her jaw. “Yeah, it doesn’t seem like much but it’ll fill you,” she says softly, digging around in Tara’s pack for the Tylenol, handing two over to the girl. “Take these, can’t have you too distracted today.” 

Tara takes the pills and then the bottle of what looks like chocolate milk from Rosita, her brow furrowing slightly. “What  _ is  _ this?” She asks, shaking the bottle experimentally. 

“Protein shake,” Rosita hums, taking a sip from her own bottle. “Tastes like chocolate milk, don’t let the color turn you off.” 

Tara’s nose wrinkles as she cracks the lid open, sniffing the liquid before taking a sip. “Oh wow,” she says lowly before popping the pills into her mouth, taking a long drag from the bottle. “Never question the drinks you give me, good to know.” 

Rosita snorts, rolling her eyes a bit. “Grab your things, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today,” she says softly, slinging her bag over her shoulder, pocketing two of the granola bars, tucking her shake into the side pocket of her bag. 

Tara does as she’s told, tucking her bars and bottle into her jacket pockets before pulling her bag onto her back. “Wait, I need to check your stitches.” 

“I changed the bandages while you were still sleeping,” Rosita hums, pulling her shirt up to show off the clean gauze. “They look better today and don’t hurt as much, I’m okay.”

Tara bites her lip a bit but nods, shrugging her shoulders. “Okay, but let me know if there’s any drastic changes to them, okay?” 

“Whatever you say, Dr. McSteamy,” Rosita chuckles, hoping Tara would get the reference. 

“I am no Mark Sloan, but thanks,” Tara snorts as she pulls her hair back. “But if I were, does that make you Lexie or Derrick?” 

“Fuck Derrick,” Rosita grins, shaking her head a bit. It felt good to joke, to try and let go of some of the pain in her chest. “I’m out of your league anyway, just like Lexie was out of Mark’s.” 

“Hey now, that’s my OTP you’re talking about,” Tara defends, eyes narrowing at the other woman. “I love them almost as much as I love Callie and Arizona.” 

“God, don’t get me started on them,” Rosita laughs, pulling her hunting knife out as they head back to the streets. “Grey’s fucked them over so hard, I’ll never forgive them.” 

They chat quietly about pop culture from before the world went dark until Rosita finally puts together how they can move around the barricade. “See the ladder over there and how this truck sits as part of the wall? I think we can get across the top and over to that ladder.” 

“Eugene sure likes to make things difficult, huh?” Tara snorts, looking up at the truck. “Boost me and I’ll pull you up?” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Rosita replies, cupping her hands. She shoves Tara up, ignoring the way her stitches pull as she extends as much as possible until Tara is on top. She jumps up and takes the offered hand, her boots scuffing the white paint as she scrambles up. 

“You okay?” Tara asks, watching the way Rosita’s hand hovers around her injury like she’s debating on putting pressure on it. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, let’s just keep moving.” She says, pushing forward even though her side is throbbing. 

There’s a plank of wood on the roof of the truck and Rosita easily puts two and two together, laying it down to cover the gap between the truck and the bit of roof they need to get to. She props it up next to the ladder once they’ve crossed, hoping she wasn’t accidentally leaving Eugene stranded on this side. 

They end up using the plank once more to get to another roof, Rosita putting an arm out when Tara goes to hop down to the lower section. “There’s a Clicker,” she whispers, the guttural sounds floating through the air. 

Sure enough one stumbles out from behind an air conditioning unit, arms waving in all directions. “Wonder how long it’s been stuck up here,” Rosita murmurs, pulling her gun out. She double checks that the silencer is on properly before she mercies the beast with one, well placed shot. 

They both jump down after that, leaving Rosita wondering if Eugene had somehow left the creature up there as part of his security system. “Now, listen, Eugene isn’t the most stable of people, he’s up there in smarts but he doesn’t think twice before saving his own skin.” 

“When we get there, just let me do that talking, okay? He’s...skittish around strangers to say the least, just don’t want him to get the wrong idea about you,” Rosita continues, making her way across the roof. “He’s a good guy for the most part, just takes a minute to warm up to you.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Tara nods, following closely behind Rosita. “So, what favor does he owe you?” 

“Saved his ass more times than he can count,” Rosita shrugs, heading for the ladder toward the other end of the roof. “Not to mention he kind of screwed me and Abe over once, convinced us he was with the government and that he could cure this shit.” 

She knows she said they shouldn’t talk about their pasts, but did Eugene really count as valuable information? He was fool, a genius perhaps, but a fool nonetheless. “Careful, there’s another trip wire down here,” she calls up to Tara, being careful to duck under the trap. 

“Wait, wait, you believed him?” Tara asks once they’re clear, shaking her head a bit. “No wonder you were both so stubborn about my bite.” 

“Fool me once and all that,” Rosita murmurs, pausing in the alley. “Do you hear that?” She asks, banging sounds from the house next to them echoing off the brick. 

Tara nods, eyes going wide when Rosita heads for the door. “Woah, you’re gonna go in there?” 

“Wanna to see what we can find,” Rosita hums, easily jimmying the door open, taking it nice and slow once they were in. 

“You’re gonna find my body when I die of a heart attack,” Tara breathes out, her hold on her switchblade tightening as they walk through the house. 

The house grows eerily quiet as they move through it, picking up useful bits and bobs as they go. It isn’t until they’re in a bedroom on the top floor that they find the source of the banging. Rosita had been looking through a drawer when the Runner charged her, knocking her to the ground with ease, her gun sliding across the wood floor.

She maneuvers an arm against the monster’s throat, keeping it's snapping jaws away from her as she tries to get out from under it. “Tara, just shoot it!” She grunts, gritting her teeth as the thing lands a blow to her ribs. 

Tara scrambles for the gun Rosita had given her, but doesn’t trust herself with the weapon enough, she couldn’t risk clipping Rosita. “Fuck!” She exclaims before she’s moving forward, her knife clutched tightly in her had. The blade bites through the skull with relative ease, the body going limp almost instantly. 

“Christ,” Rosita wheezes out, shoving the dead weight off of her. She lays there for a moment, just trying to catch her breath, watching Tara extract her knife, wiping the dark blood off onto her jeans. 

“That scared the shit out of me,” Tara murmurs, moving to help Rosita up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Rosita snaps, brushing herself off before snatching her gun up. “You either need to get more confident with a gun or you need to not have one.” 

Tara opens her mouth to argue but ends up just nodding, her eyes flickering to the floor. “I just didn’t want to clip you on accident.” 

Rosita doesn’t say anything, just pushes on, ignoring the way her body begs for rest. They needed to find Eugene and they needed to do it soon. 


	8. Ne'er Normal

Rosita is ready to leave when something on the wall catches her eye. The name Andrea is written, huge, in black marker above an arrow pointing toward the table. There’s a note there and though Rosita can’t fathom why it would be important, she picks it up. 

_ Andrea,  _

_ The soldiers are going door to door forcing people onto buses. I hear yelling a couple of buildings down - time’s running out. I tried calling, waiting, I don’t know what to do, but Daryl says we can’t wait anymore. I’ve thrown most of our stuff into a couple suitcases. We’ll be waiting for you in the quarantine zone, come find us.  _

_ See you soon, _ _   
_ _ Amy _

Rosita frowns a bit, she knew Daryl and knew of Amy, but she had never heard of an Andrea. She sets the paper down, shaking her head a bit as she heads back toward the stairs. 

“Do you think they ever found each other?” Tara asks as she folds the note up, sticking it into her breast pocket. 

“How the hell would I know?” Rosita responds, a little more bite in the words than she means. 

“I’d like to think they did,” Tara muses, tilting her head a bit. “I know it doesn’t do much to think about that stuff, but sometimes you need a little light in the dark.” 

“Even if you manufacture it yourself?” Rosita snorts, shaking her head a bit. “Come on, let's get the hell out of this place.” 

“I’m going to throttle him,” Rosita growls through gritted teeth when they find their way blocked by more tripwires, these ones crisscrossed along the only opening in the fence. “Gonna, fucking beat him black and blue. Tara, get behind the dumpster.” 

Once Tara does as she's told, Rosita roots around the alley until she finds a decently sized brick, backing up a healthy distance before she chucks it. She turns away from the blast, hands over her ears, but it still leaves her with goosebumps and some soft ringing in her ears. 

The hole in the fence is much bigger now, the whole thing bowing forward. “Yup, gonna throttle him,” Rosita repeats to herself, shaking her head. “Come on, it’s clear now.” 

As they move forward, Rosita makes a mental list of things to do once they were finished in this maze of a city, one of them clearly labeled in red ink.  _ Kick Eugene’s ass.  _

They come to a dead end and the only way around it is to go through yet another building. “Stay behind me,” Rosita murmurs as they walk through the door into what seems like a small office. 

“Come on, Tara, just-” Rosita starts as she pushes open the door, eyes going wide as she watches a fridge dropping from the ceiling. “-oh shit!” She grunts as her back hits the ground, the rope around her ankle dragging her across the dirt and eventually into the air. 

“Here, I’ve got you,” Tara says calmly, her hands coming to rest on Rosita’s backpack, keeping the woman from swinging. 

“He’s fucking dead when I see him,” Rosita growls, her eyes darting to the fridge sat on what appears to be an old dining table. “That fridge is the counterweight, go cut me free."

Rosita’s head throbs a bit and she’s reminded of all the times she got stuck upside down, hanging from the tree in the backyard as a kid. Blood rush headaches were terrible and here she was, stuck once more, cursing Eugene for the millionth time that day. 

She watches Tara climb onto the fridge when she hears them, heavy footfalls and the ragged breathing that comes with them. “Runners!” She shouts, wrestling with her holster for a moment before she draws her gun. 

“Rosita!” Tara yells back, perched on the edge of the fridge like she’s about to jump down. “What can I do!” 

“Just tend to the rope!” Rosita grunts, trying her best for headshots with her vision blurring around the corners. She dispatches the nearest infected with relative ease, fighting to bring her backpack over her shoulders so she can grab a better gun. 

“How’s it coming, Tara,” she huffs out, managing to grab her glock before another Runner charges her. She braces her arm against its chest, keeping its snapping jaws away from her face. 

She gets a good punch to the thing’s forehead, making it stumble back enough so she can shoot it in the head. She knows the gunfire is just drawing more of them in, but she also knows she wouldn’t survive letting them come to her so she can knife them. 

She doesn’t panic until Tara shouts that she needs more time, the sound barely muffling the terrible screech that comes from the Clicker making its way toward Rosita. “ _ Ay Dios mio _ , I’m going to castrate him.” 

Rosita wishes she could reach her shotgun, wishes she hadn’t dropped her bag after she grabbed the glock, wishes she was literally anywhere else but those wishes won’t come true and even though she only has three shots left, she’s gonna make them count. 

The first shot bounces off the thick fungal plate, ricocheting off toward the wall, the second cracks the plate enough that the third blasts it off completely, revealing a black beady eye under it. The Clicker wastes no time grabbing its attacker, leaving Rosita to grab it by the neck while she fumbles for her knife, gripping it tightly before driving it into the eye of the infected. 

“Anytime now would be nice!” Rosita pants, cursing as the sounds of more runners fill the air. She doesn’t have much time to dwell on that before all of Tara’s fighting with the rope sends the fridge toppling off the table an onto the floor, hiking Rosita higher into the air. 

“What the fuck!” Rosita shouts, knowing she’s unable to protect Tara without a gun from this high. “Toss me your pistol!” 

Tara hesitates for a moment before she does as she’s told, Rosita catching the weapon with relative ease. She dispatches the infected that try to swarm around Tara, apparently, her being immune didn’t matter as long as she was something warm to eat. 

Tara manages to get her dropped to the ground as a few more Runners come charging into the warehouse, one of them tackling Rosita to the ground almost as soon as she’s stood up, her gun skittering across the floor. 

The amount of times she’s been in this particular situation of pressing her forearm to a gnarled throat seems a bit ridiculous as she scrambles for her knife. Before she’s even managed to grab the thing, a machete is going through the biter’s forehead, a black boot kicking the corpse off of her. 

If she didn’t know any better she would have assumed it was Abraham, but is less than pleased to see the familiar, greasy black mullet of one Eugene Porter. “Get your ass up, we’ve gotta get moving.” 

Rosita has to bite back her anger, if only for Tara’s sake, just throwing her backpack on before they’re running again. She looks forward to a life where she won’t have to run for her life every other day, but she doubts that day will ever come. For now, she settles for keeping the infected off their tail until they’re safely shut inside of Eugene’s warehouse. 

“Man, that was close,” Tara breathes out, running a hand through her hair as Rosita leans against the wall, trying to catch her breath. “Uh...thanks for the heroics and all, I’m Tara,” she says, offering her hand to Eugene. 

The man takes her hand before bringing his other one around, tightening a handcuff around her wrist. “What the fuck are you doing?” She asks, trying to tug her arm away before she’s cuffed to a pipe in the wall. “Rosita!” 

“Eugene,” Rosita says firmly, her anger from earlier sparking with a renewed vengeance as she steps toward them, ready to beat the man. 

Eugene turns, gun drawn on Rosita, his eyes narrowed. “Turn around and get down on your knees,” he says though Rosita can see the slight shake in his hands. “I said, turn around and get on your knees!” 

He doesn’t give her time to respond before he’s forcefully turning her around, kicking her in the back of the knees to get her to drop. (She would smack Abe for teaching him self-defense if she could) If she hadn’t wanted him dead before, she sure did now. “This is fucking ridiculous!”

“Do you have any bites?” “No,” “Anything sprouting?” “No goddamnit I’m clean!” 

Rosita’s ready to turn and deck the man, but Tara beats her to it, ripping the pipe clean off the wall, beating Eugene with it. “Tara enough!” Rosita shouts, grabbing the pipe once she’s stood up once more. She was really getting tired of hitting the ground. 

“Are you done?” Rosita questions as she turns toward Eugene once again, tossing the pipe off to the side. If she was going to hit him, it would be with the satisfaction of doing so with her own bare hands. 

“Am I done?” Eugene starts, throwing his hands up. “You come into my house, setting off all my traps and this punk nearly breaks my shooting arm wh-” He never gets to finish the sentence before Rosita’s fist collides with his jaw, a soft yet sickening smack echoing through the shop. 

“We came here to find you because you owe me and you owe me big and you’re lucky I don’t skin you alive for hanging me upside down!” Rosita growls, taking a step toward the man, her fists curled tightly at her sides. 

“A fucking fridge, are you kidding me? Why the hell do you need that! I could have died,” she continues, backing Eugene into the wall. “And all for what? So you can hide in this place like the cowardly cockroach you are?”

Eugene opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by Rosita’s fist slamming into the wall next to his head. “I’m not done you low life, piece of shit, son of a b--” 

“--Rosita, Rosita, this isn’t what we’re here for,” Tara interrupts, tentatively stepping between the two. “Breathe, killing him isn’t going to get us anywhere.” 

Rosita hates to admit she’s right, hates the reality that she needs this girl to calm her anger, to bring her back down to earth. “Yeah, okay, you’re right.” 

“Not to belittle this girl’s valiant effort of keeping you from killing me, but who is she and why is she here?” Eugene asks and he’s lucky Tara is standing between them because Rosita still wants his ass in the ground.

“ _ I  _ am none of your goddamn business,” Tara growls lowly, turning to face the man, leaving Rosita to smirk as the younger girl shakes the handcuffs in his face. “And we’re here because you owe Rosita some favors and you can start by taking these the fuck off.” 

“I owe Rosita some favors, is that supposed to be funny?” Eugene asks, brows raised even as he hands over the key for the cuffs. 

Rosita pulls Tara back by her shirt, stepping in front of her again. “Look, I’ll cut to the chase, we need a car.” 

“A car? This really is a joke, isn’t it? Where’s Abe with the video camera?” Eugene snorts, picking himself up off the floor. 

Rosita grits her teeth, inhaling sharply at the mention of her fallen partner. “Abe is dead and I need a car to finish his mission because even if he was a headstrong dumbass, I promised and I keep my word. Unlike some people.” 

Eugene winces at that, running a hand through his greasy hair. “Even if I had a car that works, which I don’t, why would I just give up something as valuable as that?” He snorts, shaking his head a bit. “Sure, take my car Rosita, take all my food while you’re at it.” 

“Looks like you could do without some of that food,” Tara smirks, leaning against one of the workbenches, barely flinching when Eugene points his machete at her face. 

“Listen here you little-” “No, you handcuffed me you fat bastard!” 

“Tara!” Rosita snaps, grabbing the girl by the shoulders. “I need you to shut the fuck up, okay?” 

Tara opens her mouth to argue but snaps her jaw shut when Rosita shoots her a glare, she was at least smarter than Eugene, she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Rosita’s anger. 

“Look, whatever favors you think I owe you, they’re not worth that much, Espinosa,” Eugene sighs, sheathing his machete as Rosita steps closer. 

“Eugene, Abe and I kept your ass alive from Houston to the Bennings Safe Zone, you lied to us for six months and we still helped you after,” Rosita starts, her fists balling at her sides. “I kept Abe from killing your ass when you finally told us the truth, so I can say with absolute confidence that you owe me and a car barely covers the debt.” 

Eugene is quiet for a moment before he lets out another sigh. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t have a working car and I can’t think of how long it would take to procure the parts to fix one up.” 

“That means you  _ can  _ fix one up, doesn’t it?” Rosita presses, her brows quirked at the man. 

Eugene hesitates for a moment longer before he concedes, throwing his hands up. “Fine, but there’s some things I need that will have to wait til tomorrow, it’s going to be dark soon and I’m not getting caught out on the streets after sundown, I swear they’re more feral then.” 

“So, what do we do ‘til then?” Tara asks, arms crossed over her chest. “We just gonna stay in this dusty workshop?” 

“Of course not, this is only the first level,” Eugene snorts as if what Tara had asked was something ridiculous. “Come on.” 

Rosita shares a look with Tara before they both follow the man through a heavy looking door and up two flights of stairs before coming to another thick door. On the other side is a hallway of identical looking doors, each with the letter B before a number. “An old apartment complex?” Rosita asks, frowning at the slight echo. 

“Yes ma’am, it used to be part of a gated community, so the doors are reinforced and I haven’t had an issue with the infected in months,” Eugene states proudly, unlocking one of the doors in the middle of the hall. 

“You lock your door?” Tara chuckles, leaning against the wall, watching him pocket his keys. 

“Of course I do, I’m not a heathen.” Eugene snorts, a clever little smile on his face. “Besides, it will be one more thing someone will have to fight with if they want my stuff.” 

Tara glances at Rosita who shrugs her shoulders before following him into the apartment. At first glance, it seems like a normal studio apartment, until they step in further, finding that Eugene had done some remodeling. The walls on either side of the apartments were all but gone, leaving them open so they had access to the neighboring apartments. There was also a considerably sized hole in the ceiling with a ladder leading up to it. 

“The apartment upstairs has a better bathroom, however, I like the openness of the studios down here, makes me a bit less paranoid,” Eugene explains as the two women gape at the large space. 

“Color me impressed, Porter,” Rosita chuckles, dropping her back off next to the dining table. “Now, if you have running water, I might kiss you.” 

“Not only do I have running water, but I have hot water as well,” Eugene informs them, though he says it a little bit too fast and with a little too much enthusiasm. 

“Yo, you have hot water? How the fuck did you manage that?” Tara asks, her eyes alight with excitement at the idea of a hot shower. 

“Solar panels, I stole every single one I could find in this city, they’re all on the roof and they power everything I need here and in the shop,” Eugene says nonchalantly as he starts to pull off his ridiculously thick getup.  “And this particular community has its own water source, it wasn’t hard to find the pump and convert it over to solar energy.”

“Nice one, Porky,” Tara grins, flopping down on one of the couches, letting out a contented sigh. “Oh wait, I didn’t actually mean for the porky bit to come out of my mouth.” 

Rosita can tell she’s lying but doesn’t say anything, just makes her way into the kitchen to start rooting around. “I’ll be cooking, because as smart as you are, Eugene, I will not eat anything you’ve made.” 

“I will have you know that I can make a mean bowl of beans thank you very much!” Eugene defends, crossing his arms over his chest, pouting ever so slightly. 

“Yeah, I would rather not have beans, thanks,” Rosita snorts, grinning wide when she finds actual produce in the fridge. “Woah, do you have a garden too?” 

“In fact I do, it’s all hydroponic, I can show it to you,” Eugene responds, a glimmer of hope in his eyes as if he thinks impressing Rosita with all he has built would win her over. 

“Why don’t you show Tara while I start making food,” Rosita tosses over her shoulder while she digs out ingredients. 

* * *

Dinner that night is some sort of vegetable casserole that Rosita put together and Tara swears it's the best thing she’s eaten since the world went to shit. “How in the hell did you manage to make it taste like there’s meat in this?”

“Family secret,” Rosita winks as she scrapes her bowl clean. “Abuela used to make this for us every time we visited, I’m glad you like it.” 

“This is a take on the Spanish dish Pisto, is it not?” Eugene asks as he helps himself to another bowl, making Rosita roll her eyes. 

“Yeah, you didn’t have everything for it, but I made due,” she hums, leaning her head in her hand. “I also made some apple crisp if you’re interested. I was impressed that you have canned apples.” 

Tara punches the air with a grin, something warm and sweet sounded so good after the day they’d had. “Fuck yeah, apple crisp!” 

Rosita giggles softly, grabbing Tara’s bowl to rinse and dry it before filling it with a generous portion of the dessert. “Here, eat up and then go take a shower, you’ve earned it.” 

Tara grins before she digs in, letting out a soft sound of pleasure. “I forgot how good apples tasted.” 

“Theses are Honeycrisps, they’re part of the harvest from last year,” Eugene pipes up while he serves himself a bowl. “You are more than welcome to take a jar or two, I have plenty.” 

Tara smiles a bit, holding her closed fist to the man, her brows raised. “Come on then,” she sighs, extending her arm a bit more. He stares at her for a moment before he bumps their knuckles. 

She misses the look Rosita gives her on her way to rinse her bowl before she’s retreating to grab her things for a shower. 

The hot water feels wonderful against her aching body, the scent of artificial strawberry hanging in the steam. It almost feels normal. Normal until the soap starts to sting against her scuffed skin, until she takes in the bruises on her arms and legs from the scuffle earlier. Nothing would ever be normal again. 

* * *

They’re getting ready for bed when Tara realizes there’s only one bedroom in the upper-level apartment Eugene had cleared out. “I can just take the couch downstairs,” she says when she sees Rosita had already set herself up in the bed.

Rosita quirks a brow at the younger girl, rolling her eyes a bit. “I know Eugene creeps you out a little,” she says as she settles against the headboard. “This is a king sized bed, just get in.” 

Tara opens her mouth to argue but then she hears Eugene gargling from the lower level and thinks better of it. “Thank you,” she murmurs as she climbs into the other side of the bed, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she sinks into the soft mattress. 

“You don’t have to thank me, it’s just human decency,” Rosita replies and it makes Tara smile as she burrows into the blankets. 

“That’s hard to come by these days.” 


End file.
